


Hadley and the Pirate (and the Demon)

by ToothPasteCanyon (DannyFenton123)



Series: Transcendence AU in Space [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Gen, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-03-16 05:46:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13629906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DannyFenton123/pseuds/ToothPasteCanyon
Summary: Responding to a distress call, Hadley becomes embroiled in a pirate's harebrained scheme to take down an intergalactic government. Her only ally? A demon. Really, she can only wonder what she did in a past life to deserve this.





	1. Chapter 1

_THIS IS SPACE STATION JENEDA IN SECTOR 3551 STAR SYSTEM XCASIS BROADCASTING DISTRESS LEVEL ALPHA. SEND SUPPORT IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS SPACE STATION-_

                Captain Hadley turned down the comms system as they neared the XCASIS system, which consisted of a couple barren planets orbiting a red giant. She could see it through the cockpit now, a blood orange glow spanning from edge to edge, rendered safe to look at by the ship’s autolight adjuster. One dark circle, the shadow of a transiting planet, appeared empty as the void of space in the right hand corner.

                Around this planet should be orbiting the distressed space station, but no life signs were detected as of yet. She frowned, and motioned to her sytems officer.

                “Deep scan the planet. Are there any systems online?”

                Officer Yurch, a humanoid alien with slimy, patterned skin and fitted with a translator unit, pressed a few buttons on their monitor. After a few seconds, they responded, "None. Systems, none."

                Hadley glanced down at the briefing they’d been given before setting off. Jeneda was a relatively large space station for such a distant sector. Science, Research and Development, Sector Hub, with defenses set up on the planet they were orbiting; it all seemed like a relatively peaceful, well-defended station… and yet, there were no life signs. Was it a breach? A fire? Those usually happened to smaller stations, but it could be a possibility.

               They approached, slowly, carefully.

                “Captain,” Officer Jant spoke up from behind her. “We’re getting a visual.”

                “Put it up on the screen.”

                The huge star disappeared, to be replaced by a zoomed in image of the planet. Right on the edge she could see the station emerging from behind it, which resembled a silhouetted wheel with spokes. More worryingly, she could see little dots and larger, irregular shapes clouding around it.

                Debris, lots of it. This was no accident, and she could see it dawn on her crewmembers' faces as well. Something that could take down a station this size was more than a match for them.

                Hadley minimized the image. “No life forms detected. Prepare to jump back to United Life space and inform them-“

                  _Beep. Beep. Beep._

                “Captain!” Yurch rasped. “Something targeting us!”

                “Attempt evasive maneuvers. Officer Jant, find out what’s targeting us. Keep preparing the jump!”  
                “Aye eye, Captain!”

                The hum of the engines turned into a deep roar as they prepared to dodge whatever was coming their way. Hadley gripped her seat, and took deep breaths. Everything would be fine, but she needed to keep a cool head.

                “Located! It’s a sphere, coming towards us at 16.45 kilometers per second! Speeding up, sensors locked to us. I can’t tell what it is, the sun’s too bright.”

                Hadley sucked in a breath. That was fast. “Keep charging the jump.”

                “Captain!”

                “What is it?”

                Yurch made a nervous gargling sound. “Ship jump behind us!”

                Hadley’s monitor started going crazy, beeping and screeching and flashing red.

                “Ship charging weapons!”

                “There are pirate markings on that ship, Captain!”

                This was a planned ambush, Hadley realised. These were probably the same pirates who took down that station.

                “They refuse communications!”

                “What do we do, Captain?”

                “Quiet!” Hadley snapped, and she slammed her hand down on the screeching monitor. It went silent, and she could think. “Send a distress signal back to base. Warn them about the ship. Aim weapons at-“

                “Incoming!”

                Hadley looked towards the sun, and now she could see the sphere coming towards them. It was rapidly growing bigger as it hurtled through space, a big black object that matched and then surpassed the size of the planet – Hadley felt a rush of cold fear as she realized it might be heading straight for the cockpit, but it flew right past her and-

                _BANG._ The ship jolted wildly, and- everything went black. A second later, the emergency lights switched on, bathing the room in a deep, ominous red.

                “All power down, Captain! Distress signal did not send! Jump powering down.” Jant’s voice trembled a little as she added, “Oxygen system offline.”

                “That must have been an EMP.” Hadley’s hands tightened into fists. “Stay calm. There’s an emergency radio in the top compartment; use that to broadcast a white flag signal at the pirates.”

                Jant’s eyes were wide and shining, but she obeyed, standing up and pulling on a handle just above her. A large radio came down like a desk in front of her seat, and she began to talk quietly into it. Yurch stood still and silent as death, their face unreadable in the dark red light.

                Hadley breathed in. Did the air smell a little stale? No, no, it would take longer than that for the oxygen to reach dangerous levels. Ten minutes? At least ten minutes.

                They had time. She was just psyching herself out. Stay calm.

                She breathed out. For her crew, stay calm.

                A strange electronic whirr came from inside her ship, the sound of a teleporter. Her crew noticed it too; Yurch drew a blaster from inside their uniform, and aimed it at the two closed doors. Hadley drew her own, and Jant followed suit.

                There came a knocking at the right hand door, rhythmic but not to the tune of any song Hadley knew. Then, a strangely cheery voice, “Hey there, United Losers! Any of you with blasters? You’d better put them down before I blow your heads off!”

                Hadley grimaced. “Lower weapons.”

                Jant holstered hers immediately, but Yurch… their arm twitched as if they considered doing the same, but then they jerked it up and fired. It briefly illuminated the room in blinding white light before burning a hole through the door. There came a yell from behind, and Hadley blinked; a hit! They could still have a chance here.

But then the pirate returned fire, and blaster shots rained into the room. Yurch dropped their blaster and fell to the floor with a thump, smoke coming up from their head. The monitor behind them was peppered with glowing holes.

                Jant screeched. “Yurch!”

                “Tut, tut, tut.” Despite the hit, the voice still sounded very upbeat. “Hey, are you two gonna follow in your friend’s footsteps, or are you gonna put those blasters down? I’ll give you guys a tip; if I were in your shoes, I’d go with number two!”

                Hadley tried not to look at Yurch’s body. “We surrender. We request only our lives.”

                “Oh, don’t sound so down about it.” The pirate imitated Hadley’s voice as they put a hand on either side of the doors and started to push. “Oh, we surrender. We only want to live, duh, duh.’ Lighten up, will you? This whole ship is so dark and gloomy, I think you’d like it on mine! We painted a rainbow on the walls!”

                Hadley exchanged glances with Jant.

                “Ugh- got it!” The pirate forced the door open; in the dim red light, they appeared as a tall, bulky, faceless figure. Hadley watched as they dusted off their hands, and began rifling through their pockets. “Hang on, let me get a little light in here… Proper entrance, very important… aha!”

                They switched on a flashlight and lit their face from below. The first thing Hadley saw was her smile; it was a little too wide for her face, and her front tooth was missing. Long brown hair came down past her shoulders, and her eyes were still very much in shadow.

                That mouth opened, and in a very low, dramatic voice, the pirate said, “Hello, United Loser people. It would appear that you’ve stumbled into my clutches, the clutches, of the Dread, Pirate, Mizar! Dun dun duuuun! Hahaha… that was good, yeah?”

                Hadley glanced at Yurch’s corpse. They leaking a clear substance, their species’ equivalent to human blood. Yurch was dead, and they were killed by… she didn’t even know what to make of this pirate.

                “No? No takers? Yeesh, you UL-lers are a terrible audience.” Mizar turned off the flashlight and leaned into her headset. “Yeah, I got two wet blankets here in the cockpit, beam us back. Ugh, this air’s starting to smell really stale. It’s making me loopy; loopier than I already am, at least! Haha, zing!"


	2. Chapter 2

                There really was a rainbow painted on the Dread Pirate Mizar’s ship, and now that the lights were brighter, Hadley got a better look at its owner. The bulky figure she’d seen in the dim room was actually composed of a large backpack and a heavy pink shawl, torn and stained at the ends, but still bright. She was wearing a United Life prison jumpsuit with the top half tied around her waist, and she had several blasters as well as a knife stuffed in this makeshift belt. She had one twohanded blaster in her hand – clearly the one she’d gunned down Yurch with.

                Hadley felt sick, and she glanced back at Jant. She’d tried to make good choices, she’d tried to protect her crew, but one was dead, and the other was at the mercy of this hardened criminal. Any outcome had to be better than this; if only she’d been more cautious on the approach, if only she’d anticipated trouble and charged weapons, if only, if only…

                “Argh!” Mizar let out a grunt as she stepped forwards, and clutched her abdomen. “Stupid officer hitting me with that stupid blaster. Patch, are you there? Patch? Hey, can someone get Patch on the line? I got shot, and it sucks.” She then grinned at Hadley, and she shuddered as she finally got a good look at the pirate’s eyes. “You probably forgot that, didn’t you?”

                Hadley played it safe. “Yes. You’re right.”

                “Ha! Fooled you. See, appearances are half the battle! You probably wouldn’t have gone down so easy if I started- agh – started crying like a baby or something… Don’t feel too bad though, you couldn’t have beaten me anyway. Nobody can beat the Dread Pirate Mizar!”

                “Um… Yes. You’re right.”

                One of the doors opened, and two people in very ragged clothing rushed in. “Captain! Heard you got shot?”

                “Are you okay, Captain?”

                “I’m fine. I’m fine, you two!” Mizar waved them off her. “Worrywarts. Get these two to the holding cell while I go drag Patch away from whatever weird stuff he’s doing instead of being on comms. What is it, the third time he’s been off comms this cycle? Haha- agh! Nope, no laughing. Laughing hurts.”

                One of her crewmembers looked doubtful. “Are you sure you can make it?”

                “You keep looking at me like that, and I’ll show you how far I can make it!” She hobbled past him. “Just take those two to that thing that used to be an escape pod before we made it, you know, not an escape pod. Oh, and when you’ve got a second, disable that EMP hooked up to their ship. No rush!”

                She disappeared behind the door, and the two crewmembers turned to Hadley and Jant. Their concerned faces hardened into ones of hatred, and Hadley couldn’t help but notice one of them several UL cybernetic blackboxes clamped around their belt. Those, her mind couldn’t help but remind her, were normally found implanted on every soldier’s ribcage.

                Hadley cringed and put a hand over her chest as he advanced on them. He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her forwards; next to her, Jant let out a squeak as the other pirate did the same.

                They went through several doors fitted with scanners, through several large rooms, and Hadley wondered what kind of ship this was. It was clearly quite large and advanced, but all familiar features were stripped and all identifying text was painted over. They were led through a hallway with the black marks of blaster fire sprayed on the walls, and another filled with so much junk they struggled to pass through it. Several other crewmembers were gathered around a table in the next room, and they turned to stare at Hadley with expressions ranging from fiery glares to stone cold stoicism.

                “Hey, Chance!” one called after them. “Which one of these space wastes shot our Captain?”

                Chance’s hand tightened around Hadley’s arm. “Don’t know. Far as I’m concerned, they’re both responsible.”

                “It wasn’t either of us!” Jant protested, but she was cut off by a chorus of booing and jeering from the crew. The pirate escorting her gave her a shove.

                “Oh, yeah? Did your blaster just jump out of the holster and hit our Captain all by itself? Get outta here with that coward’s talk.”

                Jant hung her head, and they passed into the next room.

                After a few more rooms, they finally reached what was most likely the escape pod room. All but one on the far left had already been jettisoned, nothing but an empty space and a darkened keypad left behind. The remaining pod’s controls had been destroyed by laser fire; Chance had to leave them and manually open the hatch (no small feat, considering the thick steel and blaster reflective glass he had to lift above his head) to get inside. With an unpleasant grin, he motioned for them to go inside.

                “Better hope you two like each other, ‘cause you’re gonna be spending the next few hours knee-to-knee while the ship’s doc patches up our Captain. I’m sure she’ll be keeping that in mind when she decides what to do with each of you!”

                Hadley flinched as she heard the heavy hatch slam shut, leaving her and Jant in a space too narrow to extend her arms. There was an overhead light, but it was broken, bits of shattered glass scattered on the tiny floor.

                On the window underneath the hatch was a big red button labeled, ‘EJECT’. Hadley pressed it, but as expected, nothing happened. The pod was deader than a sun smelting iron, and served better as a prison cell than a way out.

                Hadley thought that was ironic.

Before she could think about it further, however, a sniffling sound caught her attention. She turned to see Jant had turned away from her and was looking out the side window into space. What little light there was shone on her wet cheeks.

Hedley’s face softened. “Jant. How’re you holding up, Officer?”

Jant quickly wiped her face. “I-I’m fine! Don’t worry about me. Just a little… you know, this i-is a bit much.”

                “Yes, it is.”

                “I’ve never- I mean, I’ve been on larger UL ships while they were, but… I mean, I’ve never… nothing like this. You seem so calm, have you… have you ever seen anything like this?”

                “I’ve been in a few deadly situations, yes.”

                What do we do, Captain?”

                Hadley paused. If only she knew the answer. “Well, for now, we wait. The pirate Mizar will most likely come back and talk to us. I’m not yet sure what she wants, but clearly, she doesn’t want us dead: she used an EMP on our ship and took us – wanted to take us – all alive. If we stay calm, we should be able to survive this. Let me negotiate with the pirates.”

                “O-okay.” Jant took in a deep, shuddering breath. “Okay. Stay calm, I’ll stay calm. And quiet, with the pirates. I can do that.”

                “Yes, you can. You’re doing great, Officer Jant.”

                “Thank you, Captain.” Then, quietly, “I’m really glad you’re here.”

                Hadley nodded, but said nothing more. Glass crunched under her feet as she shuffled her legs into a more comfortable position. She stretched her arms as best she could, then slumped down and looked out the window.

                The familiar sight of stars greeted her; beautiful, but seen so often she couldn’t help but feel a little bored. That was when she noticed something on the rim around the window. It was writing, and she leaned in closer.

                ‘ULSS MANTORUNUS LIFE POD’, it read, and Hadley recognized that name. Roughly a year back the Mantorunus had gone missing, and for weeks it had been plastered all over the news; a battleship-class – one of the smaller ones, admittedly, but still a battleship-class – space vessel had just gone missing while stationed near a nebula. She’d been on some of the search parties, combing those clouds for clues as to its disappearance.

                And here it was, in the hands of pirates. Every system had been scrapped, every crewman had been killed, every mention of its original name painted over and erased… except for in this one tiny spot, around the window of a broken escape pod.

                And Hadley thought that was interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

                The two waited a long time in the escape pod before anything interesting happened. Despite the cramped space, Hadley had found a way to take a nap, although she was only asleep for a little while before there came a bang at the hatch. Startled, they both looked up.

                There, in the hatch window, was Mizar. She gave them a grin and a wave, and then ducked out of sight.

                Jant started to breathe heavily, so Hadley tried to reassure her. “Remember. Stay calm, and stay quiet. Can you do that?”

                “I-I can do that. I can do that.”

                The hatch creaked and lifted up, spilling bright light into the little pod. Hadley squinted as her vision adjusted.

                “Thanks, Chance,” Mizar was saying to a figure on her right. “You’re a pal. Anyway, hello there! Quick question, which one of you two’s the captain?”

                Hadley hesitated only a second before speaking up. “I am.”

                “Good! That was a trick question - I knew all along, duh! - but I wanted to see if you were gonna try and lie to me.” She winked at them. “That wouldn’t have ended well for either of you. But you didn’t, so, come on, guys, take these sad sacks to the teleporter room!”

                The teleporter room? Hadley raised an eyebrow; there was no way they were just letting them go, after all this effort to capture them. She could see the same question shining on Jant’s face, but her officer kept silent as Chance reached forwards and grabbed her.

                Mizar followed in between them as they were escorted to the teleporter. “Oh, guys, look at this!”

                She suddenly pulled off a cartwheel right in the middle of the hall, and then started walking backwards.

                “Notice anything? Yeah, I know, I’m not hobbling around the place anymore because your friend shot me! That guy was a good shot, by the way. What was their name?”

                Hadley blinked. “You killed him.”

                “Yeah, yeah. What was their name?”

                “Yurch.”

                “Yurch? Haha, Yurch!” She fell back into step with the pirates. “That’s, ah, that’s one of those guys from the Rungch system, right?”

                “Right.”

                “Ah, interesting.” Mizar glanced at Hadley, and then burst out laughing. “Yeesh, you look uncomfortable. What’s the matter? I’m just trying to make small talk, so don’t go freaking out on me!”

                Chance cleared his throat. “They’re probably uncomfortable because you’re skipping around and talking about their deceased officer, Captain.”

                “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m not an idiot.” She poked Chance. “Lighten up!  Lighten up, all of you! This is a good day for me. Ooh, look, the teleporter room!”

                Mizar dashed ahead, leaving Hadley to wonder if this hardened pirate was actually a twelve year old girl in disguise.

                “Through here!” She ushered them in and motioned for her crewmates to line them up against the back wall, opposite the teleporter. Then, she straightened and cleared her throat. “Alright. So, as you two already know, you’ve been captured by the Dread… Pirate… Mizar! You may now grovel at my feet and beg for mercy; I won’t judge.”

                Hadley cleared her throat. “As captain of my ship, I am willing to listen to your demands in exchange for-“

                “Ah, ah, ah! I asked for groveling, not bargaining!”

                “Um… of course. Please. Let us live.”

                “And would you do anything for me to spare your life?”

                “Yes.”

                Mizar crossed her arms. “Man, you guys suck at groveling. Alright, Chance, release… that one.” She pointed at Jant, who let out a gasp before covering her mouth. “Yeah, her. Let’s get this over with.”

                Jant stumbled as she was shoved towards Mizar. The pirate grabbed her by the shoulder.

                “Now… you. What’s your name?”

                Jant glanced towards Hadley, who motioned for her to speak.

                “I’m Jant.”

                “Jent?”

                “Jant. It’s, um, i-it’s named after a star my grandmother-“

                “Okay, okay, I don’t need your whole family history.” Bracelets clinked as Mizar drew her in closer. “I’m gonna ask you a question, Jant. Can you deliver a message?”

                “Can I…? Wait, what kind of-“

                “Don’t overthink it, okay? It’s a yes or no question.”

                Jant nodded.

                “Good!” Mizar shoved her towards the teleporter. “Off you go, then!”

                “What?”

                “I’m sending you back to your ship. We disabled our EMP, so she should be up and ready to go. I want you to jump back to your base as fast as you can, burst through the doors of some snooty admiral’s meeting, and I want you to tell them, ‘Oh, please, help! There’s some crazy pirate loose in the XCASIS system! Send the fleet! Send the battleships! Send every man you’ve got!’ I want you to tell them about that huge space station that we shot to pieces, with all those people on it, and I want you to tell them about the ambush we planned for you guys.” She shot a nasty grin at Hadley. “I want you to tell them about the fate of your crewmembers, and how it’s not too late to save one of them, so please, please hurry! I want you to really rile them up. So, can you do that? Can you deliver that message for me?”

                Jant had been slowly backing away throughout the speech. “Um…”

                “Hey, you can always say no, and I’ll send Captain Stoneface over while you stay here with me. I just don’t think she’ll sell it as well, you know?”

                “Just say yes.” Hadley locked eyes with her crewmember. “Get out of here and send help.”

                “Yeah, do what the Captain says.”

                After a few seconds, Jant nodded. “Okay. Okay. I’ll do that, I’ll get help.”

                “There we go!” Beaming, Mizar walked over to the control panel. “We’ll send you right back to your ship. Any last words to Admiral Save Yourselves over here?”

                “Um…” She looked over at Hadley, and her lip trembled. “You’ve… you’ve been a really great captain, and I wanted to thank you for, well, for everything you’ve done, and I’ll-“

The teleporter fired up, and she disappeared in a flash of light; Hadley was alone.

                “Oh, no. My finger slipped.” Mizar rolled her eyes. “Yeesh, I asked for last words, not a eulogy.”

                Chance chucked. “You got that right, Captain. Pathetic. Should I take this one back to the pod?”

“Let’s- hey, that’s what I was about to say! You get me so well. Yep, we’ve got the ball rolling, and lots of things to do before the first few ships show up! Chop chop!”

                Hadley cast one last glance at the teleporter before she was led away. Jant had made it, thank the stars, and now she was going for help. At least one of her crewmembers had survived this terrible ordeal.

                And now she was alone, without allies on a ship with a chaotic captain and murderers for crew. The thought crossed her mind that she might not be so lucky.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

                “Stay there.” Chance pushed Hadley over to the corner as they entered the room with the broken escape pod. “If you move, I’ll make you bleed.”

                She stood by and watched Chance struggle with the heavy door, the blackboxes tied around his waist clacking together. She didn’t notice it before, but he too was wearing a piece of the same prison jumpsuit she’d seen on Mizar; a scrap of bright orange cloth wrapped over his wrist.

                Chance glanced at her, and Hadley couldn’t look away fast enough. His face set into a glare. “What are you staring at?”

                She said nothing.

                “That’s what I thought.” With a grunt, he lifted the door up. “You know, all of you in United Life, you’re all the same. Cowards, ungrateful cowards. I was one a part of that, you know! Ten years I served, beating up the bad guys, doing what they told me, and I was good at it, too! Easily the best in the fleet. But then some space waste cadet goes behind my back, and all of a sudden I’m making my superiors look bad, so what do they do? They go and make an example out of me. Ten years of service, and they threw me in prison to rot!” He kicked the wall with heavy steel boots. They left an impression. “ _Like I was nothing_! And I probably would’ve stayed there, too, if it weren’t for Mizar. It’s disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful.”

                He stopped talking, then, and silence hung in the air like stale oxygen. After a moment, Chance turned to Hadley. “What? You got nothing to say? I bet you’re dying to tell me I’m wrong. That I deserved it. I dare you.”

                She didn’t respond. She didn’t know how to respond.

                “No? Oh, forget it. Get in the pod; I’ve got better things to do than sit around here and talk to you.” He glared at her as she hurried over. “I’ve got my eye on you. No funny business.”

                Hadley watched it slam in her face, and then breathed a sigh of relief. At least in here, she was one steel wall separated from everybody else on this awful ship.

                Then she turned around, and realized that she was not.

                Somebody was sitting in the escape pod with her. Head bowed, their mop of brown hair was the only thing she could see of their face. His clothes were black, hard to make out in the dim light, but they looked nothing like what the pirates were wearing.

Hadley frowned. Who was this person? A prisoner? But there was only one pod on the ship; they could have been stored elsewhere, but then, why would the pirates move them here?

                And why was he sitting? There were no seats in the pod, so that position had to be incredibly uncomfortable.

                Whilst Hadley was wondering about this strange prisoner, they reached a hand into their jacket and drew something out. Without looking up, they offered some sort of metal cylinder to her.

                “Here,” He said. “I know your emergency ration implants don’t let you starve, but I thought you’d like a little taste of home.”

                Hadley raised her eyebrows and took the container. It was pink, with a little peach and the words ‘Pitt Cola’ labeled on the side. The metal was icy to the touch, like it had just come from the void of space.

                She looked back at the stranger. “Um… thank you, this is… um...”

                “It’s Pitt Cola. It’s soda.”

                “So-da?”

He lifted his head up, and genuine surprise was written all over his face. He had pointy ears, Hadley noticed. Non-human. “You’ve never heard of soda? Really? Oh, well, you can have it anyway. It’s good, I promise.”

                “How do I-?”

                “You lift up the tab.”

                “Lift up the…”

                “The tab. On the top. No, that’s not the- no, the tab! It’s right there! The tab! T̰̰͔͚̠h̷͖͉̱͙̝͎̱e̺̹̝̭-! Ugh, let me do it.” He snatched it back and opened the can, which let out a soft hiss. Then he handed it back, grumbling, “Humans these days, don’t even know how to open a soda can…”

                Hadley looked down at the dark pink liquid fizzing around the top of the can, and held it away from her. “Um, thank you.”

                “You’re welcome.” He sat back, staring at her with a strange half-smile, his eyes almost glowing in the dim light. He said nothing more, but continued to stare, and the longer the silence stretched, the more keenly Hadley was aware that she was trapped in a tiny escape pod with him.

                “So,” said the stranger, after a while. “You’re the one Mizar has taken prisoner.”

                Hadley didn’t know how to answer this, so she nodded.

                “Yes, that’s interesting. Very interesting.”

                “Um...” - and Hadley hesitated a great deal here before curiosity got the better of her - “Why do you find that interesting?”

                “Oh, for so many reasons. You – you specifically - might just be able to help me out. And in return, I can get you off of this ship. You interested?”

                That was… not what Hadley was expecting. She raised an eyebrow; it also sounded far too good to be true. “Hold on. What do you want me to help with, and how are you planning to get out of here?”

                “Those are very good questions with very complicated answers.”

                “Then please, explain them to me.”

The stranger thought for a moment. “Well, for question number one, you know Mizar?”

                “She’s hard to forget. What about her?”

                He actually smiled at that, as if he was recalling some fond memory of the bloodthirsty pirate. “Yes, unforgettable. That’s very true.”

                “It is. She blew up a space station, murdered one of my officers and has me held hostage.” As Hadley talked, the smile slowly died on his face. Good. “She also appears to have stolen a United Life battleship with the intention of going on a murderous rampage. So yes, I would describe her as rather unforgettable. What about her?”

                “Ah. Well, ahem, before I proceed, I’d like you to, um, just really, try and keep an open mind-“

                “What are you trying to tell me?”

                “Well, you may not know this, but there was a time when Mizar wasn’t like this, like she is today. Look, it’s hard to explain, but I’m an... old friend of hers, from that time, and I can’t bear seeing her like this; it’s not like her at all.”

                Hadley frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that, but I don’t think I can help. Maybe you can-”

                “If you’re going to say I should talk to her, it won’t work.” He crossed his arms, looking almost exactly like a pouty child. “She won’t even let me s̶e͠e̻ her anymore!”

                “Okay. Well, what do you want me to do about it?”

                “Talk to her, or something! Tell her she’s hurting people, make her s̻͉̟̞t̺̩o̷͖̲͕̘͔̭̻p͉͡!”

                “And how exactly is that going to help? If you haven’t noticed, I’m her prisoner. She doesn’t care what I think.” Hadley could hear herself getting louder. “And furthermore, why the hell would I want to do that? She’s caused me nothing but pain and misery from the moment I met her! She murdered Yurch – shot them right through the head! They’re dead now because of her, and all those innocent people on the station too! And who’s to tell if I’ll be next if I say something like, oh, I don’t know, ‘You’re an awful human being. Why don’t you stop being an awful human being?”

                “D͇̼͎̹̘͕o̦͕̪͝ ͈̩̮̭͍͇̥͡n҉̜͓ot̠͍̘̫ call Mizar that!”

                “Look, I’m really sorry that your friend turned out the way she did, but you wouldn’t be here talking to me if she wasn’t an awful human being, okay? I wouldn’t be here either, for that matter, but she is, and here we are.”

                The stranger’s face contorted with rage and he opened his mouth, only to hesitate, and finally growl, “Do you want to get off this ship or not?”

                “The entire fleet is about to be sent after Mizar for taking a captain hostage. That sounds a whole lot more likely to work than whatever you’re planning.” She crossed her arms. “So, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. I can’t… I… can’t…”

                It was like all the light was draining away from the stranger. He sat up, his eyes turning black and burning gold. Hadley tried to take a step back, only to find her back was already against the pod’s wall.

                **“Y͔̰̫o̶̫̬̪̥̹̳͎̦̗u̼̼͕̪̻̕,** ”The stranger thundered, his darkened form beginning to lace itself with glowing yellow brickwork. Pitch black wings unfurled themselves from his back.

“ **A̘͚̻͉͞ṟ̫͇̫̘͡e͔͍̕̕͜ͅ ͎͍͎͙͚̞̦̞m̷̘̘̘͕̣̤͠a̵̭̞̗̺̮͎̼̱k͕͔͚͞i̱̦̖̦̞͢n̨̧͇̙̝̲ͅg̖͉̰̮͈͈̻͕͘̕ͅ ̝͙̻̞̳͙̠͕͝a̰͎̤̦̥̭̦ g̸̶̥̘͕̝̰͟͞͡r̸̤̖̱̗͖̮͚̗͔̪̖͈̰̺̺̳̺̯̕͜a̡̘̰̺̙͔v̸̤̬̯̦̰̺͞͝ę̶̷̞͔̪͘ ̡҉͇͇̞̯̮̝̗̘m̸̵̴̮̖̥͈̗̜i͍̭̮͉̬̲̭͟ͅş̵̝̲͈̠͕̭̬̩̯̦͎͖̰̺͕ͅt̢͞҉̦̮͎̦̭̻̰̺̙͔͘a̵̴̖̻̟͈̥̹͓̼̭̣ͅk͢͝҉̧͚̖͚̤͝e̖̞͚̳̭̩̤̕͠.̨̛͎̜͓̝̖͢͜͞ I̵̠ͮ̎ͅ ͆͗ͤ̌̚͏̷̲̖̥̙̭̹̘W̰̫͈̲̖ͥ͛̈ͥ̽̌̉̒͜I̴̟͂͞͝L̋ͣ͊҉̦͕͈L̸̋ͨ̋͜͝ͅ ̸̡̧̲̙͎͂ͪ̆N̵̜͔̻͎̖͎̻̪̔͌̄ͬ͊̇͊̚͞Ọ̩̹̳͈͍̾͐̿ͭ̈̕T̖̫̭ͥ͛̂͆͛̅͆ ̶̝͇̮̰̜̓B̸͖̳̗̄Ê̮̱̱̫̦̼ͣ͐͒ͦ͑̓͟ ̶̱͖̜̼̖̭̺ͫ̔̀͋͋ͩ͒̚R̸̫̝̒̈̇̽ͫ̑̊͌͠Ę̸̥̅ͭ̌ͫͣ͟F̺̣͇̪̱̤̟̤̀̑̂ͦ̈́̾͘U̍̓̒̈́̈ͨ͏̗̤̹̥͝S̠̠͒̈͂̏ͦ̋ͮ͡Ė̡͚̼̦̮̽̊͂̅D̨͖̦͖̝̠ͨͦ̓́͗̅͘͢,̧̛̠̭͉̟̑̎͢ͅ ̪̤͒͊ͫͥ̎ͫH̗̫̖̾͊Ǘ̡̥̫̼̼̠͇̝̝̳̃M̷̛̰̲̖͓͔̲̟͌ͪ͐͗͂ͫ͝ͅA͚̓̀ͣ̇ͤ͟N̴͉͖̭̯̠̫͇̬̈́ͮ̐!”**

 

                Hadley shrank back, covering her face. This was it. This was how she was going to die. Not by pirates, but by getting into a verbal argument with a demon.

**“I̢͏͍̙̳͘͟͞ ̜̘̩̝͞W͚̪̫̠̗̘͍̰̺̕͡ͅI̴̧͇͓̖̲̩̬̪͔̰̫̠͙͍͖͔͍̜̼͢L̨̡̬͙͎͙̼͜L̴͏̢̨͕͖̞̥̬̣͈̦̙̰̪͍̫̱̪ ̺̞̯̬̹͇̗̬͙̣̹̪̲͡ͅK҉̴͠͏̯̦̯̲͍͖̻̣̗̫͙̥̣̹͙̜I̸̶̤̲̦̝̠̻̳̞̙̘̪̰͘Ļ͈̗̲̪̩͚̲̤̟̻͜͠L̝̞̼̪̦̮̞̕͘ͅͅ ̢̜̫̻̻̫͎̲̪̞͍̗̙̲͍̤̲͇̺̟͘Y͏̵̮̤͍̯̳̖̻͓̖̱̬̰͙̻̖̪̕͡O̶͏̼̟̤̣͔̤̙̳̤̺̱̰͚̬Ų̷̛̹̬̞͕̭͕̕͞,̡̧̘̤̪̭̯̤͙̞̫͍͙͉̬̖̯͘ ̸̪̤̬̥̣̹̭͚͢͠A̸̝̻̱̦̲͔̕Ņ͏҉͏̞̺̠̮̲̰̻͍D̸̵̴̲͔̻͚̯̪͇̹̝͓̯̙͝ͅ ̶̧̣̰̼͓͖͚̼͙̗̬͈̦͢I̸̶̸̺̤͓̖̝̺̞̹̰̘T̷̬̻̗̥͕͉̱̩͚̲̟͇̳̲̼̻͕͙̬̕͢ ̶̵͈̭͕̤̪̥̹̺̰̮̼͉̹͟W͘͏̸̥͈͖̲I͏̻̘̣̦̤̞̪̙͈̹̳̖̩̕͜ͅͅͅL̵͕̩̬̪͚̗͖͙̹̜͕̳͡͝L̸̡̨̢͇̺̫̹͕͈̥̬͙̩͕̱̳͙̭͟ͅ ̸̨̡̛̫̻̮̯̲̩̫̪̺̹̜̜͔͕͕͞ͅͅB̪͈̥͓͍͕̗̻̳̯̱͓̟͘̕͢ͅE͏̮͔̩̖͙̗̦̥ ̢͙̲̗͉͔P̨͈̬̬͓̦̘͚͕͓̻͉͘ͅĄ̮͚̪̝̕͝I̧̪̫̥̤̣͍̰ͅN҉̼͙̺̝̘̜̱̲̩͉̕͢ͅF͝҉̷̸̴̬͖̥̘̱Ų̶̲̬͉̘̞͕̖̘̦̩̺̟̹̜̹̫͘͢L̡͙̜͕̜̱̞,̴͚̯̗̲̫̪̗̯͍̟ ̴̧̥̖̻̯̫̘̞͕̻̣̬̙͘͟͡A̦̘̣͉̯̤̲̻̻̝̯̳̦͕̳͎̩̱͜͝N̴̸̵͍̲̪̮͚͇̟̫̮͜ͅͅD̴̟̱̰̬̝͔͞ ̙̺͈͎͖͓̹̯͕̫̼̺͘̕I̶҉̰̤̮̖̳̬͕̜͜ ̶͏̡̛̥̱̺̜͍̲̙̞ͅW̢̗̥̰̮͉̦̰͔͖̜̙̮͎̰̠̠͠ͅI̸̙͓̪̼͙͔̣̜͙̦̪̻̗͍͈̘̼͘͢͠͞L͏͏͖̮͉̘̠̭̘̞Ḽ̨̞̠̤͚̟̬͟͢͞ͅ ̷͚̬͕͕̜̺̠͎̞̮̬̰̰̕͞ͅŢ̡̢̼͖̪̲̻̕͝E̷̴̴̳͙̣͚A̧̕͜҉̟͓͚̼̱̠̬̗͕̗̮R̴͕̺̜͔͖̥̲̺͍ ̷̵̤͚̜̬̳̯̦̝̤̜̗̲̕͜͝Y̯̩̬͓̦̝͇̮͢͜͝ͅƠ̵̢̪̘̗̦͍̻̗͕͓̥̝̺̰̺̞̕͢ͅU͏̢̦͔̞̞̩̪̗R̶̻͍̭̠͎̙̖͓͎̲͙̬̜͉̫͚͖̯̱͞ ̝̘̱̩͓̗̼͉̮̯S̱͙̪̬̩̜̺̱̮̭̯͎̺̹̺̘͞͡O̸̧͡͏̖̮̺̣͕̩̮̜̪͉̬̹̪̩͕̩̙ͅU̥̟̞̻̟̯̝̣͔̕͝ͅL҉̸̨̹̲̯̹͕͙͈̰̣̗͓̯̖̭̼̼̣͎͢ ̗̗̱̙̪̥̳̮̘͔̞͙̤͈̦͙͍̕O̸̳̟̙̝͈͓͙͝U̢̡̬̹̟̳̫͖̮T̞̮̼̠͚̼̩̤͎̠̝͍̯̲̜͓͘͞ͅͅ ̴̶̶͈̰̠̭̤̮̹̩̗̬̺̲̟̟͙̺͎͘O̸̶̥̖̝̘̠̜͘F̸̖̪͙̟̤̙͚̭̮̱̻̞͚͈̱͉̯͍̲̕͡͡ ̧̗̙̮̮̳̮͍̣̫̳͢Y҉̠̬͙̹̘̱̘̲͚̱͢͠O̶̧̡̘͓̤͓͇̖͖̫͍̼̦̻̪͕̤͞U̴̴͖͚͇̥̻̖͓͖̫̭̖͕̗̭͉͍͕̘̳͠R҉̸̲͉̪̥̺̼̯͕ ̵̨̠̦̰̫͡W̬̣̣͖͈̲̝̤̲̫͓͍̣͍̪̳̹͍Ę͚̞̩̖̭̹̣͙͍͍̮̕͘͟͡ͅA͢͏̛҉͙͓̹̜̤̺͖̮̰̮̞̹͜Ķ̲̙͇̕͘͜͞,̨̢͇̳͙̻̲͖̮͚͈̟̥͙̘̞̠̺̠̬͜ ̴̴͇̲̺̫̩̩̖̯̯͡U͏̵̡͎͚͕̮̬͕͈̙̟̱̪͖̙̰̜̫̫̯S̸̙͍̞̭̳͓̥̝̱͞ͅͅͅE̳͕̺̤̱͕͍̬̫̦͚̣̱̭͙L̴̛̤̯̪̭͈̰Ȩ̣̳̜̰͘͟͞S̶̠̮̥̘̰̖̤͉̣̺̠͉͇̯̰̬̜̯͈͜͞S̛͜҉̲̫͖ ̡̛̰̞̫͓̘͔̯͎͇̗͕̗͔̭̰͡͞͡ͅM̴͕̳͕̣̩̕̕͟͝O̴̷̢̦̹͙͉̞̭͎͚͖̼̥̩͕͍̣̘̝͉͢R̷̷̢̡͎͔͎͈̦̥̺̠̗̜̠̱̼͈̱͖̼͠ͅT̝̻͓̫̤̦̣̪̩̱͈͕͓͙̕͡A̴͖̺̜͉͜L̷̸̛̜̦̱͕̫̜̞͎̘̱̪͢”**

 

 

The demon put a clawed hand on Hadley’s shoulder and she _felt_ it, like he was squeezing on her heart. But it only lasted a moment; she heard the demon gasp and retract his hand like her skin was hot to the touch. When he spoke again, it was low, horrified, completely devoid of the furious demonic reverb. “Oh, no. No, no, no, what have I done? I’ve got to- um, I’m so sorry- I… I…”

                Hadley kept huddling for a few more seconds, broken glass crushing under her feet. When she dared to peek out from behind her arm, she saw that he was gone, not a single trace of his presence remaining. She stood up with shaking knees, trying to calm her heavy breathing and racing pulse.

                That was a demon, an honest-to-god demon. She could still feel that touch; what was that? How did he… What was he… what was he doing here? Why was he asking her to escape?

                How was she still alive?

                As Hadley felt her muscles relax just that little bit, she leaned herself against the side of the pod, just staring at the opposite wall. That was when she noticed there was still something weird about the room; everything was just that little bit brighter, lit with a clear white-blue light from above.

                The pod light was still smashed, but there was something weird on the top of her head, just out of her field of vision.

She turned to the window, where she could see her faint, blurry reflection… and two ethereal antlers poking out from behind her ears, translucent, weightless, and glowing.


	4. Chapter 4

****

                Hadley passed her hand once more over her head, and shivered as they crossed where her antlers had been. Their glow had faded some time ago, but if she concentrated, she could still feel something behind her ears.

                Or maybe she was just psyching herself out. She didn’t know.

She didn’t know, and that was what she hated the most. Pirates? That was bad, but she’d been trained on how to handle them. Demons? There was a single line in the UL training upload about how dealing with them was grounds for immediate dismissal.

                Such helpful advice.

                Hadley checked herself in the window one more time, and then she slumped down; her legs were sore from standing so long. Her eyelids drooped, and she could hardly keep them open. She shifted herself into a comfier position, rested her head against the wall of the pod, and let them close.

* * *

 

                She had no dreams, but a general sense of peace and calm settled in her mind as she slept. For the first time in a while, Hadley smiled, and she kept that smile until a strange warm sensation started to rouse her. On her head and shoulders, something was getting steadily hotter, hotter, and then painful.

                “Wha…?” Hadley sat up, suddenly aware of the smell of burning hair. There was sweat on her brow. “It’s so hot in here. What’s going on?”

                Touching a hand to the metal she had just been leaning against was like pressing on a glowing stove. She swore and drew it back.

          The walls were heating up. Every breath she took was hotter than the last. Why was this happening? Hadley had an inkling of an idea of what might be causing this, but she really, really didn’t want it to be true.

                “Please don’t tell me Mizar is that stupid. There’s no way she can be a captain and be that stupid.” Hadley wiped her forehead as she looked through the window. “There’s no way- oh, no. No, no, no, that’s not good.”

                The pod window wasn’t even pointing towards the sun, but the glow from it outshone all the other stars until the only thing she could see was shades of red. This went far beyond just breaking the safe sun distance regulations; at this distance, Hadley was pretty sure she could reach out and dip the piloting codebook in the star’s corona.

                And here she was, cooking in a tiny metal oven. She could feel herself sweating everywhere, on her forehead, down her neck, through her clothes; every breath was like dry fire, searing her lungs; she needed to get out.

                Hadley turned to the hatch. She grasped the handle, and swore when it burned her. She rolled her sweaty sleeves over her hands and banged on the window.“Hey! Is anyone out there? I’m burning up, let me out! Let me out… let me out! Please!”

                It seemed like nothing was happening, but then everything seemed to _twist_ and- she was on the other side of the hatch. All around her was the whirring, clanking sound of the cooling system overclocking itself, supplying the ship with lovely, cold air.

It felt like heaven to poor Hadley, but at that moment she had little time to appreciate it; whatever had just twisted her outside the pod twisted her stomach as well, and she leaned forwards and threw up on the floor.

                “Oh, I’m so sorry!” That voice… it was the demon! “That, uh, that happens sometimes, the first time. I, um, thought that was better than the alternative. I’m sorry, I know you probably don’t… yeah, I’ll go now. Oh, and don’t tell them about me, it could end badly. I’m so sorry, again. Sorry.”

                As soon as she could, Hadley turned towards the demon’s voice, but he was gone. The heavy hatch door had been opened, and she could see the far wall of the pod was beginning to glow a dull red. Eyebrow-scorching hot air started dumping into the room, so she stumbled over to a chair in the far corner.

                She sat down, and breathed in.

                Then she breathed out.

                Wow. A demon saved her life. Was that technically grounds for dismissal from the fleet?

                Hadley didn’t have long to think about that, because the entire room started flashing red. An automated voice started speaking.

                _Warning. Room overheating. Expected to reach biological unviability in T minus seven minutes. Warning…_

                “Oh, great.” It was already starting to feel a little stuffy in there. Hadley made to get up, but her legs trembled beneath her and she sat back down. “Ugh. Jeez. Gotta take a minute.”

                As she was waiting to recover her strength, she heard a stomping sound just outside the room’s door. A keypad beeped, and then it slid open.

                “Please, please, please-“ The Dread Pirate Mizar herself stepped into the room, and Hadley shrank back as she stopped and stared at her, and then at the open hatch, back at her, and then at the hatch once more.

                “Um…”

                The widest grin spread across Mizar’s face. “You escaped! Oh, thank the stars, you beautiful human!”

                “Wait-“

                “I could kiss you right now! I mean, I won’t – you smell as bad as you look – but you just saved my butt on hostage negotiation! It’s really hard to negotiate when you let your hostage burn up in a star’s atmosphere.” She poked the red-hot, several-inches-thick hatch. “I don’t even know how you did it. Wow, do you work at a space circus part time or something? I run one, I would totally put your act in. ‘Escape from the Escape Pod!’ Yeah, that’s really got a zing to it!”

                “Wait, you were going to let me burn up?”

                “Not on purpose, duh. I’ve got like fifty million things on my mind right now, no joke.” She walked over to Hadley and picked her up by the arm. “Anyway, let’s get outta here. It’s way too hot for long sleeves.”

                Hadley stumbled alongside the pirate as they passed through several rooms. “Where are you taking me?”

                “Over to piloting. I was gonna bring you there anyway when the big ships start showing up, so hey, this all works out!” Still grinning, she squeezed Hadley’s arm a little tighter. “Oh, side note, if you tell any of my crew about my little screw up, I will personally make sure you don’t leave this ship alive. I’m pretty sure you know by now that I make good on my deals, don’t you?”

                Hadley gulped. “I won’t.”

                “Good. Now cheer up, buttercup, you’re about to get front seats to something am-az-ing!”

                There was a double door at the end of the hallway, and an eye scan dropped down from the ceiling as they approached. Mizar had a smirk on her face as it scanned her and started flashing red.

                _Warning! Unauthorised access requested from Class 1 Intergalactic Fugitive. Captain is advised to immediately initiate emergency procedures._

“Yeah, hello to you too, Karen.” Mizar turned to Hadley. “It does this every time. Isn’t it hilarious?”

                Before Hadley could answer, the eye scan retracted and the double doors slid open. Mizar walked her into a cockpit many times larger than her own; it had sleeker, smaller stations with holo screens, and many more of them than the basic three on cruiser classes. It was teeming with pirates, and everything was a lot messier than UL standards dictated. At the very front of the room was perhaps the most egregious flouting of the rules: an old leather swiveling chair, with blades poking out of the arm rests and a half-burned United Life flag slung over the back.

                “Hey, it’s Mizar!” Pirates turned to greet her as she walked forwards. “Where’d you go, Captain?”

                “Still no sign of any big ships, Captain.”

                “Our cold fusion cannons took two minutes eleven seconds to malfunction in the heat, Captain…”

                “How’d it feel back there? Hot? Cold? Do you think my improvements to the cooling system are gonna be enough, Captain?”

                Chance caught Mizar’s shoulder. “Hey, what are you doing with the hostage, Captain? You left during a pretty critical moment; I thought we were getting her after the big ships jumped in.”

                “People, people, please. Save your questions.” Mizar shoved Hadley towards Chance, strode over to the swivel chair, and sat down. She spun around once, and then stopped it and sat back. “Alright, let’s have cooling systems turned off in the escape pod room and redirected in here, because everyone in this cockpit needs to chill out!”

                This drew some laughs. Mizar grinned.

                “Yeah! Come on, guys, epic space battle! Let’s see some excitement – I’m talking to you, Chancy!”

                Chance remained expressionless. “With all due respect, Captain, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for, to finally do some real damage to the United Life. We can’t screw this up.”

                “And we won’t! Sheesh, who do you think you’re talking to, an amateur?” She spun in her chair. “I’ve been doing stuff like this since fooooreeeveeer, so stop worrying. Mizar’s got this all under control, so let’s lighten up, have some fun! Oh, hey, look at all the little red dots!”

                Outside the main cockpit window, Hadley could see various ships, highlighted red by the targeting system and clearly staying well within safe sun regulations.

                “Scouts, the ship the UL builds to claim they’ve got the biggest fleet in the universe. Hah! Maybe they should have invested in a better cooling system, because they’re all doing a fat lot of good over there!” Mizar leaned over to one of her pirates. “Hey, are there any scouts in range? That sounded cool, I want to say that to one of them.”

                “No, none in range.”

                “Aww, that’s-“

                “Captain!” Somebody stood up in the back. “Light travel signatures detected! Big ones, probably a battleship!”

                The entire cockpit burst into cheers. Hadley flinched as a nearby crewmember started firing his blaster into the ceiling. With a huge grin, Mizar rose from her chair.

                “Finally.” She cracked her knuckles. “All right, guys, I’m ready! Who’s ready?”

                “ _We’re ready_!”

                Mizar was hard to make out over the shouting. “And who’s going down?”

                “ _The United Life_!”

                “ _Down with the UL! DOWN WITH THE UL!_ ”

“Yeah!” Chance bellowed right into Hadley’s ear. “Down with the bloody peacekeepers! Burn them all! Burn them!”

                Hadley shrank back as far as he would let her. Here she was, standing in a room full of pirates clamouring for death. It felt so surreal, like watching the end of the world.

Finally, Mizar waved them down.

                “Alright, alright, yeah. You guys are real lively tonight, huh? I like it. Let’s do this!”

                Right in front of the cockpit, one massive battleship and a smaller diplomatic vessel jumped into view. The diplomatic ship – a shimmering cylindrical cruiser with a clear glass helm and no visible weapons – started cruising towards them. The battleship stayed put, a metal mountain of highly advanced cold fusion weaponry not-so-subtly aimed at them as the diplomats approached communication distance. At the very peak, an anti-ballistic laser swept the space around them, the bright red glare periodically flashing across the cockpit window.

                Mizar whistled. “Now that’s a ship. Maintain position, power up engines. Let them come to us.”

                Hadley felt Chance shove her towards the corner, where she noticed there was a small box marked in pen. “Sit here,” He said, drawing out some sort of strange necklace: a piece of string wrapped around a shimmering blue crystal. “And wear this- under your collar! Don’t take it off, or you’ll be sorry.”

                “Hey, no need to go all tough guy on her.” Mizar sat back down in her chair. “She gets the picture.”

                Chance sneered and skulked back to his station.

                “They’re requesting communications, Captain!”

                “Put’em on screen!”

                The image of the looming diplomatic ship, exterior starting to glow red from the sun, was wiped off the glass, and a man in a decorated UL uniform appeared in its place. Hadley saw him briefly glance at her, and then fold his hands over his desk and stare down at them with an impassive expression. He had smile wrinkles, she noticed.

                Mizar waved. “Hey-o, nice medals! What’d you earn them for, fighting paperwork?”

                The man didn’t rise to the bait. “Hello. I am Rynaff, I am a negotiator for the United Life and I-“

                “Slow down, buddy. Before we even start talking, that huge battleship you’ve got watching you. I want it to scram, okay?”

                “You want the battleship to leave?”

“Heck yeah I do. How are we supposed to have a civil discussion when that thing’s ready to nuke us from orbit the second we say something wrong? Get it out of here.”

                “I can understand that you may feel uncomfortable with the battleship. I’m afraid UL regulations will not allow us to withdraw our escort-“

                “Sounds like mumbo jumbo to me.”

                “-but I’m sure we can come to some compromise. Perhaps you want us to lower our weapons, and back off to let you get out of the danger zone of the star?”

                “Hmm…” Mizar put a hand on her chin, and swiveled her chair away from Rynaff. Out of his view, she made a quick gesture to one of her pirates, who started furiously typing on their station. A grin hidden behind her hand, she turned back to face him. “Yeah, sure, how about you bring that battleship in closer, and the two of us lower weapons? It’s a win-win!”

                Rynaff frowned. “Bring it in closer?”

                “Yeah! I’m not coming to you, you come to me! Bring it in… ah, how’s about within comms distance like you are, nice and toasty. Look, I’ll even lower my weapons first! Hey Jules, do the thing!”

                “I’m not sure-“

                Hadley felt something hard and cold pressing on the side of her head: Mizar’s blaster. It made a whirring sound as a shot charged in the chamber.

She stiffened.

                “Let me say this again,” Mizar said, softly. “You come, to me.”

                Her heart pounding, Hadley watched Rynaff grind his teeth for a long moment. Finally, he nodded. “Very well. Leave Captain Hadley unharmed, and we will come to you.”

                The blaster was lowered, and Hadley breathed a deep sigh of relief.

                “Captain,” One pirate spoke up. “The battleship is moving into position as requested.”

                Mizar was all smiles as she wheeled herself back into the centre of the room, blaster resting across her lap. “See, that was easy! I’m a reasonable person, you’re clearly an excellent negotiator – What could go wrong?”

                Rynaff flashed a dry smile. “As little as possible, hopefully.”

                “Now, as you were saying?”

                “Yes. As you are most likely aware, we’re here to negotiate the release of Captain Hadley. We understand that you and a small group have recently escaped from Kaktuz Asteroid Penitentiary. Are you looking to have your charges dropped?”

                “Dropped? Ha! Like you’d do that.”

                “Then what are your terms? How can we convince you to let Captain Hadley go?”

She spun around again, and made another gesture to her crewmember. He shook his head, so she rolled her eyes and started talking in a noticeably slower voice. “So… my terms. My terms, to release your Captain. Do you, or do you not, want to hear them?”

                “I would like to hear your terms.”

                “Alright, then. First term is… um… amastupidface.”

                “Ama stupid fa-?” He blinked. “Wait…”

                “Haha!” Mizar slapped her knee. “I got you!”

                “Okay, could we-“

                “Stupid face! Ha!”

“Could we get back on topic, please?“

                “Okay, okay. Heh, stupid face.”

                At that moment, there was a bright whirring flash in the room. A UL soldier had teleported in front of Hadley, and grabbed her shoulders. “Target secure! Beam us up!”

                Hadley braced herself, but… nothing happened. Under her collar, the strange necklace started to vibrate.

                The soldier seemed just as surprised. “What’s going on? Beam us up! Beam us-“

                Chance drew his blaster and fired; the soldier, now lacking most of a face, stumbled forwards and collapsed onto Hadley. She tried to sit up and untangle herself from the mess of heavy, limp arms.

                There was a dead body on her. _Oh, my god, there was a dead body on her_ …

                “Well, would you look at that?” Chance lifted the soldier up. “The perfect example of United Life diplomacy.”

                He turned and tossed the body forwards, in full view of Rynaff. He paled.

                “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Mizar shook her head. “And here I thought you guys just wanted to talk. You’re a bunch of liars, aren’t you?”

                “I would like to sincerely apologise-“

                “No, no! No need, that’ll be quite enough from you.” Mizar spun around one more time, and she didn’t have to signal; her crewmember gave her a thumbs up, and the nastiest grin spread across her face. She stood up. “So you think you’re smart enough, huh? You think you’re one step ahead of us? Well, I’ve got some bad news for you, Mr Rynaff: you’re going down!” She stabbed a finger at the screen. “Cut communications! Full throttle with the engines! Go, go, go!”

                The crew cheered, and Rynaff’s bewildered face fizzled out. The engines roared into life; Hadley was thrown backwards by the sudden thrust. She sat up to see them headed towards the diplomatic ship, closer and closer with no sign of stopping.

                Oh, no.

Hadley watched the diplomats try and pull up, but Mizar was going far too fast. With a horrible thud and judder, they collided, sending Mizar’s wheelie chair flying across the room, and bringing them to screeching halt… but not for long.

                With the diplomatic ship crushed against their helm, they began to speed up again, heading right for the top of the battleship. The anti-ballistic laser zeroed in on the wrecked cruiser, its glass helm flying off in shards as it was propelled forwards, and turned green for a moment before passing on. It thought they were friendly.

                Hadley stared at Mizar, who was standing right in front of the window, blaster in hand, wearing a grin far too wide for her face…

And she realized Mizar had planned this. All of this.

                They stuck the battleship, and this impact was far, far worse. What remained of the diplomatic ship – and of Rynaff - crumbled away, bits of glowing metal and glass shards breaking off and scattering into space. Then Hadley was thrown forwards; there was a horrible screeching noise as the ship collided with the laser tower, and then-

                _Boom_! The ship lurched to the side, and all sorts of alarms started to go off. Mizar popped up, shouting orders as they began to stabilize.

                “Lasers! Aim for their engines! Turn, face, target! Turn, face, target!”

                A chorus of “Aye, Aye, Captain!’, and the pirates got to work. The engines roared again, and they turned to face the battleship. It sat there surrounded in debris, floating far too close to the sun. The laser tower was drifting away from the fearsome vessel, deactivated. The cold fusion cannons stood idle, too overheated to safely fire.

                The older laser weaponry, on the other hand, had no such problem. Superhot beams of plasma rained down on the battleship’s huge engines; a few seconds of sustained fire, and they shut off completely, leaving the mountain dead in space.

                “We’re receiving a white flag signal from them, Captain.”

                “Oh, we are?” Mizar crossed her arms. “That’s cute. Ready the rockets.”

                Hadley blinked. “Wait, they’re surrendering! Don’t you take surrenders?”

                “Eh, sometimes, but this is gonna be really cool. Watch this: fire the rockets!”

                Two missiles streamed out from either side of the ship. At first, Hadley thought they were regular rockets, but then she noticed they didn’t explode when they hit the side of the battleship. Instead they kept boosting… boosting the ship closer and closer to the sun. The red-hot glow on the exterior grew steadily brighter, whiter.

                Hadley suddenly realised what Mizar was so excited about. Her stomach turned. “Wait, you can’t-!“

                “Hey,” A hand on her shoulder. Chance was grinning down at her. “Don’t try anything, okay? This is a glorious moment.”

                And so Hadley watched, helpless, as the ship drew closer and closer, panels deforming and melting as they approached the chromosphere. The white flag signal petered out, and the rockets finally exploded, propelling them forwards, forwards…

                The glowing mass of melted rubble sank into the surface of the sun, like a ship sinking in a volatile sea. The sun flared up all around the impact, releasing a huge cloud of gas into space.

                And just like that, they were gone, nothing but stray scrap remaining of the great battleship.

                Silence in the cockpit. Finally, Mizar turned to them, and dusted her hands off.

                “Well, folks.” She clapped her hands together, grinning that nasty, insufferable grin. “I’d say that was a little bit of a success, huh?”

                And all around Hadley, the pirates erupted into cheering. She slumped down, staring at the body of the soldier. The United Life had lost, badly. They weren't going to be able to rescue her.

                And at that moment, she had never felt more alone.


	5. Chapter 5

                “So, how hot is it in there again?”

                “Um… quite hot.”

                Mizar, leaning against the wall with a cup of soup, said, “How hot is it?”

                The pirate tightened her grip on Hadley’s shoulder. “About t-twelve hundred Kelvin, Captain.”

                “Ah. That’s a high number, isn’t it?”

                “It is, Captain.”

                 “Gonna take a while to cool something down from twelve hundred Kelvin. And the system damage?” She took a sip of soup. “Not gonna be pretty, that’s for sure.”

                “I know. I’m so-“

                “Ah, ah, ah!” Mizar held up a hand. “Look, I’ll give it to you straight. When I said ‘divert power from the escape pod to the cockpit’, that was clearly a joke. I mean, clearly a joke. But then you went and took me seriously, and now we don’t have anywhere to put our special guest for the next who-knows-how-long, and that’s completely your fault.”

                The pirate bowed her head, and Mizar took the chance to wink at Hadley. Hadley avoided any eye contact.

                “I know, Captain. I’m so sorry, I promise I can fix this. We can put her in the hold, I-I’ll guard her like-“

                “The hold? I mean sure, but that just seems rude, doesn’t it?”

                “Uh…”

                “I mean, first you deep fry our guest’s room, and now you want to stick her in the hold? Yeesh. I like treasure as much as the next pirate, but I wouldn’t want to sleep on it.”

                “So where should we put her?”

                “I’ll find some place. Look, you’re usually a pretty good crewmember, so I’ll take this mess off your hands.” Mizar finished the soup, threw the cup over her back and grabbed Hadley by the arm. “You go with one of the repair crews; make sure we’re in shape to jump, okay?”

                “Oh… thank you so much, Captain!”

                “I’m real generous, aren’t I? You’re welcome, now scram.” The pirate scampered away, and Mizar turned to Hadley. “Now, you. I’ve got just the place for you.”

                Hadley did not like the sound of that.

                She was led away from the escape pod room, through a series of corridors she had never been down before, and then up some stairs. Everything seemed just a bit cleaner here – oh, there was a bloodstain on the ground. Nevermind.

                She gingerly stepped over it, and continued to follow.

                After a few more rooms, Mizar made a right and went down a long corridor to a door at the very end. There, she stopped and cleared her throat.

                “Hey room,” Mizar said. “Lemme in.”

                The door slid open to a darkened room. Hadley grimaced as Mizar pulled her inside.

                “Hey room, could we have some lights in here? It’s like a black hole in – oh, that’s better. There we go! What do you think?

                The lights flickered on; Hadley squinted as her vision adjusted. The room was… strange, to say the least. The walls were painted a bright pink, and a mattress had been laid on the floor, taking up most of the space. The built in desk next to it was overflowing with papers, a small pile of coins and various oddities. An easel took up the third corner, and on it was a surprisingly good – albeit unfinished – painting of the XCASIS system. It looked like she used the ground for a palette… or maybe that was a very sloppy rainbow. With Mizar, it was hard to tell.

                “Wait.” Hadley frowned. “Is this… your quarters?”

                “Sure is!”

                “Why did you bring me here?”

                “Cause I can do this. Hey room: lock the door, will you?” Mizar grinned at Hadley. “It’s not as tough as the hatch, but if you break it, an alarm will go off. Keep that in mind if you want to pull any of your circus tricks.” She made to leave, but paused. “Oh, and if you wreck my room, I will put all the broken stuff in with you when the escape pod cools down. Just something to keep in mind, alright? Alright. Toodles!”

                She typed in a code to the door, and it slid open. Then it shut in Hadley’s face. She sighed.

                Well, all things considered, this wasn’t the worst place to be trapped inside. With Mizar’s warning in mind, she steered clear of the easel and walked over to the desk, wondering what she was working on.

                Hadley carefully sifted through the mess, and found most of them were clearly UL documents from before the ship was pirated, when it was still the ULSS Mantorunus. Interesting. She searched for any sort of report on the day Mantorunus had gone missing in the nebula, but nothing came up.

                She did, however, find something dated a week after the disappearance. It didn’t have any official markings.

                _Dear M,_

 _The_ Manatorunus _may have been a partial success, but it was still a success and I demand my full and promised payment. Without tessercrystals, you wouldn’t have had a hope in hell of capturing a battleship intact! And without me, you won’t have tessercrystals, so here’s my ultimatum._

_I’m withholding my next shipment. If you won’t pay up soon, then we’re done. Simple as that. I’ll destroy them and put this mess behind me, and good luck trying to make me make more because I’m sitting pretty in JENEDA, and you’re on the run from the whole damn fleet!_

                Hadley sighed as she finished the note. Normally she liked to find the silver lining in situations, but lately it felt like no matter how bad things got, something always seemed to come along and make it worse. Of course somebody in JENEDA was working for Mizar, of course. She wasn’t even surprised anymore, she was just really, really…

                Disappointed. Normally, she liked to see the best in people, but no. Not now. Not after watching a battleship be plunged into the sun.

                Slowly, she started putting the papers back; she was mindful of the original order, but they had been so messy she couldn’t help but wonder if Mizar would notice or care if they were out of place. She upset a little bottle on the edge of the table doing so, and quickly caught it before it shattered.

                It had a little handmade space ship in it. Mizar had even gone to the effort of painting pirate markings on the side. How strange.

                “Mizar modeled that after her parents’ ship,” said a voice, startling Hadley. It was the demon, standing on the far side of the room and facing away from her. “It was destroyed by United Life cruisers when she was only ten years old. Her parents were still inside. She watched from an escape pod.”

                Hadley hesitated. She glanced at the little ship, then placed it back on the desk and turned to look at him. “Who are you?”

                His wings twitched. Hadley noticed them for the first time, folded up against his lower back. “Alcor the Dreambender.”

                “Oh. That sounds familiar.”

                “That’s to be expected. I’m one of the more well known demons- oh, wait, that came out wrong!” He turned around, waving his hands. “I’m not vain, I swear! It’s just, um, yeah, people usually have heard of me. That’s not bragging, that’s just…”

                “I get it.”

                “Oh, good. Please don’t think I’m vain.”

                His wings fluttered awkwardly behind him, and his gold-on-black eyes were full of relief; Hadley found herself smiling. This guy was hapless, she thought. It was amazing to think he was the same guy who… attacked her.

                The smile vanished.

                “I won’t.” She crossed her arms. “So, what do you want with me?”

                “Huh?”

                “You saved my life, and now you’re here again. What do you want?”

                Alcor scowled. “Hey, now. I didn’t save you because I wanted something.”

                “But you do want something, don’t you.”

                “Well, it’s not that I want something, it’s just…” He sighed. “I wanted to say sorry. For what happened the last time we met. That was… not at all what I wanted to happen, and it was my fault, and… well, I’m sorry. That was not okay.”

                He sounded genuinely sincere; more sincere than Hadley would expect a literal demon to sound like, in any case. She made a face. “Um… alright. Thank you for apologising. And hey, if you’re really serious, could you do me a favour and get me out of here?”

                Alcor looked up. “What?”

                “You teleported me out of the escape pod. Do you think you could teleport me to one of the nearby scouts? Or-“

                “Oh, no, I can’t do that.”

                “You can’t?”

                “Well, I can, but I can’t- um, Mizar can’t know I’m here.”

                “Why not?”

                He opened his mouth, and then closed it.

                “I get that she doesn’t want to see you, but you could save a lot of lives if Mizar doesn’t have a hostage. And-“

                “No! She can’t know I’m here- and don’t ask why. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.” He clenched his fists. “Just know that it’s a lot better for everyone involved if it’s like I was never here.”

                Hadley nodded. “Okay. I believe you.”

                “I do want to get you out of here, though. And like I said before: I can, if you can convince Mizar to give this whole pirate thing up. Then, you know, I could take you anywhere. Over to the scouts?” He cracked a smile. “Please. I could take you all the way back to United Life Homeworlds in a blink.”

                “Really.”

                “When I mean anywhere, I mean anywhere. You want to see the ruins of Earth? Or the planet Barcelona? I could take you there. Or even alternate universes-“

                “Whoa, whoa, slow down there.” Hadley chuckled. “I think I’ve had my fill of space adventures. Just looking to get home.”

                “That’s fair enough.”

                “Still, I’m glad to know I have the option.” Hadley’s eyes strayed to the painting of the colony, and her smile faded. “But I don’t think I’d be able to convince her. She doesn’t seem the slightest bit uncomfortable with what she’s doing. She just defeated a UL battleship – no pirate’s been able to do that before. She’s at the top of her career and she obviously has some grand plan for the future; I don’t see how I could talk her down from that.”

                Alcor was silent for a moment, watching her with an unreadable expression. Then he said, “I’m sure you could.”

                “Why?” She frowned; as she stared at her, she could almost feel the tiniest bit of weight on the top of her head. “What’s so special about me? And don’t tell me it’s too complicated this time.”

                “Well, it is complicated- but I’ll give you the rundown, don’t worry.” He paused. “You two, I’ve known you two for a while. Or at least, I’ve known your souls- do you, by chance, know about the whole soul thing?”

                “I know the concept.”

                “Yeah, and you two, you tend to…” He interlaced his fingers. “You know? It’s kind of complicated, but you guys, you tend to get along pretty well, okay?”

                “What, did we get married or something?”

                “Oh, yes! Quite a few times, actually.”

                Hadley raised an eyebrow; this was getting a little too weird for her. “Alright, but we’re clearly not getting along now. And that’s what counts, right?”

                “Well – again, it’s complicated – but I’m sure if you ever found a chance to talk to her,” He shrugged. “Do you think you could try talking to her? Please?”

                “Um…” Hadley sighed. “Sure, I’ll talk to her. What have I got to loose, right?”

                “Thank you! Thank you so much!” Alcor’s little wings flapped behind him. “And, uh, hey, maybe I can’t tesser you out of here, but if you need some sleep, they’re not coming to get you for a really long time. I could give you a peaceful sleep, and maybe you don’t want to wake up when they go light speed? I could do that.”

                “…Alright. I suppose that couldn’t hurt.” She eyed Mizar’s bed, and sat down on the floor. “Thanks.”

                “No problem! Just, uh, close your eyes, and I’ll take care of the rest!”

                Hadley closed her eyes. She had one last conscious thought before she quickly drifted off to sleep, and that was how absolutely crazy this all was.

                Past lives, demons, pirates. If she ever got home, she’d have a hell of a story to tell.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for blood.

                _BWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAA_

                Hadley jumped out of her skin at a sudden noise right in her ear. She scampered back and looked around, blinking sleep out of her eyes as she saw-

                Mizar. With a trumpet in her hand. Laughing her head off.

                “Oh, my stars, that was- haha! That was perfect! Your face!” She stood up, chucked the trumpet to the side. “I can’t believe… I was sure you were gonna wake up! But jeez, you really sleep when you sleep, don’t you? Hahaha!”

                Hadley, still backed up against the wall, just stared at Mizar as she started to calm down.

                “Haha… alright. I’ve spent way too long on this, come on. Let’s- hahaha!” She giggled as she grabbed Hadley’s arm. “Sorry, I just, I drew on your face as well – don’t bother rubbing it, it’s eternity marker – and you look so stupid, bahahaha! Oh, this is great. Come on.”

                Hadley blinked. “Wait, what? What did you write?”

                “That’s for me to know and you to decipher in a mirror later. Now get up, or I’ll drag you!”

                Reluctantly, she stood up and followed, rubbing her face. Maybe next time, she wouldn’t ask a demon to put her to sleep… also did she really do that? She must have been more tired than she thought.

                “So,” Mizar said as they walked down the stairs. Through a window, Hadley could see the twinkling stars, and nothing else. “I’m pretty sure you’re wondering why we just went light speed twice, huh?”

                She did not know this, but she nodded anyway.

                “About two hours after our first jump this massive battleship comes roaring in. Biggest hunk of junk I’ve ever seen in my life – and that’s saying something! Guy comes on the comms and says,” She imitated a deep voice. “Surrender now or face utter annihilation.’ Ooh, so scary. But I guess I can’t tease too much: he had the big guns to go with the big talk.”

                Hadley blinked. “You ran away.”

                “Oh, of course. I’m not one of those fight-to-the-death types, I pick my battles. I like to think that’s why I’ve got grey hairs. You don’t see those on many a pirate, do you?” She chuckled. “Anyway, Mr Total Annihilation is definitely on my list now. He sounds like he deserves to be knocked down a peg… into his grave! Dun dun duuuuuun!”

                They passed a cluttered corridor, and Hadley finally recognized this as the way to the escape pod. Another pirate came through the opposite door. His eyes immediately went to her forehead, and he started to cackle.

                “Heh, that’s a good one, Capt’n.”

                Mizar grinned. “Why, thank you! I spent way too long on it, but hey, it’s eternity marker. It’ll be there till she’s dead, so I made sure it was a ringer!”

                Hadley scowled and kept rubbing her forehead.

                “So, any news for me?”

                “Nothing really. Oh, uh, I saw Chance in the escape pod room. He looks pissed.”

                “Now that’s not really news, is it? Haha, zing! Anyway, I’ll handle it.”

                “Cool, cool. You need any help with him?”

                “Help?” Mizar said, and there was an edge to it that Hadley had never heard before. She took a step closer, and continued. “You think I need help keeping order on my ship?”

                The pirate paled. “Oh, no, no! That’s not what I meant, I just know Chance is-“

                “Chance is a moron, and I could take him any day of the week. Hey, kinda like you!” She poked his arm, and he flinched. “Oh yeah, I could definitely take you. You need to eat more vegetables!”

                “Wh-what?”

                “Get some carrots in you. Some broccoli. Or some Bok Choi – that’s a vegetable, right? I’m pretty sure that’s a vegetable… What was I talking about again? Oh, yeah. We were talking about how I don’t need you or anyone else hanging over my shoulder and telling me what to do! I’m a freaking pirate captain! Get out of my face!”

                “Uh, yes, Captain. Right away.”

                He tiptoed around Mizar and scurried for the opposite door. Mizar shook her head and kept walking and for once, that ever-present smile had vanished from her face.

                They walked the remaining distance in silence. Hadley watched as Mizar came to a stop in front of the door to the escape pod room.

                “Hey, look at this! It’s back to a cushy two hundred and ninety three Kelvin.” She looked through the dark window. “Shame about the lights, but otherwise we’re spoiling you! Oh, and look. There he is, sitting in the dark like a dummy. This should be fun.”

                She opened the door, and the first thing Hadley noticed was a flashlight hanging from the ceiling. The breeze from the oxygen system made it drift from side to side, casting its narrow beam haphazardly about the centre of the rom. Just under it, his chair propped up on the wall between two jettisoned escape pods, was Chance.

                The stark lighting conditions did little to soften his glare. His eyes were hidden in pitch black shadow, but it was clear to Hadley where they were pointed. She hung back as Mizar led them into the room.

                Mizar, on the other hand, seemed unfazed. “Hey, Chancy! What’cha doing sitting in the dark over here?”

                “Waiting for you.”

                “Waiting for me? In here? Chance, buddy, you know I’m the captain, right? Just go wait in the helm like literally everyone else does.”

                “If I thought I could find you in the helm, that’s where I’d be.” He stood up, slowly. “But I know you better. You’d rather be hanging around with your little prisoner instead of doing anything important.”

                Mizar snorted. “You’re ridiculous.”

                “Oh, am I? No, I think the word you’re looking for is observant. Don’t think I didn’t see you last night, letting her into the captain’s quarters.” Chance sneered at Hadley. “I bet you think you’re real special. You just wait. You just wait!”

                “Are you done yet, Chancy?”

                “No, I’m not! We’ve got a real chance to strike back at the UL here, and frankly, I think you’re wasting it!”

                “Right.” Mizar smirked. “It’s not like I just punted a battleship into a star or anything. You’re ridiculous.”

                “I’m not ridiculous!”

                “Uh, yeah. Yeah, you are.” Mizar suddenly shoved Hadley towards him. “Now do something useful and put her back in the escape pod, will you? Please and thank you.”

                Chance caught Hadley by the back of her head, his fingers tugging painfully at her hair. Hadley shivered when she saw his expression; cast in shadow by the flashlight, but for a little highlight on his cheek as he ground his teeth. His grip tightened on her hair, and he suddenly jerked her back and slammed her face into the wall.

                Pain. One moment Hadley was standing there, and the next she was on the floor, hands on her nose, wetness on her hands and stars flashing in her eyes. They started to water, and she squeezed them shut. She tried to hold her breath, but it came out in a sudden gasp.

Up above, she could hear laughter. Mizar’s laughter.

                “What?” Chance’s voice, low and rough. “You think that’s funny?”

                “Oh, you bet I do! Did you need to get that out of your system? Do you feel better now? You’re ridiculous, Chance.”

“Stop saying that!”

                “Or what? Are you gonna do that to me? Ha! I’d like to see you try.” She imitated his voice. “Oh no, the UL threw me in jail! Screw the UL! I’m gonna make them pay!’ Yeah, right. You think you’re special? You’re not special. You think I care about what a sad, pathetic little man like you thinks I should or shouldn’t do? You’re ridiculous. Get out of my face.”

                Hadley felt herself being picked up by the shoulders. She blinked open her eyes to see Mizar staring at her, a big grin shining on her face.

                “Man, you look terrible.” She marched Hadley straight past Chance into the escape pod. “Anyway, if you’re gonna be such a goon, I don’t want you moping over in the helm. Ruins the atmosphere. So why don’t you stay here, huh? Make sure the prisoner doesn’t try anything. I’m sure you’d _love_ that job.”

                Chance said nothing. She could see him standing close by, entirely silhouetted by the flashlight.

                “I’m gonna take that for a ‘yes, captain!” Mizar walked past him, waving. “Anyway, I’m off to the helm. If there’s not a prisoner when I get back, I’m sticking you in the airlock! Buh-bye now!”

                She walked out of the room, the doors opening and closing with a whoosh of air. Hadley found herself alone in the room with Chance.

                Chance, who stood almost out of view from the escape pod, who hadn’t yet moved nor spoken since Mizar had spoken to him. He looked like a mannequin, rigid and faceless.

                Hadley adjusted her grip on her nose. It was still bleeding and throbbing, but at least she could think straight again.

                Chance was moving towards her. Hadley shrank back as he approached, footsteps stomping, fists clenched tightly. He stopped in front of the escape pod, and he reached up to grasp the hatch.

                And then, he _slammed_ it down. The heavy hatch crashed down inches from her foot and rattled violently, before all was quiet. Through the window, Hadley could see Chance pull his chair over to the opposite side of the room and sit down. His face was half-lit this time, with heavy shadows under his eyes as he stared right at her.

                Hadley ducked back down, breathing in, and out with a gasp. It took a few seconds to steady again. She slumped down against the hatch, bringing in her knees to fit in the cramped, dark space.

                And she stared out of the window, at the infinity of space. She’d give anything to be out there, somewhere, anywhere but here.


	7. Chapter 7

                It had been a while. Hadley didn’t know how long, but it was long enough for the blood on her face and hands to dry into little dark flecks that pinched her skin. Gross. She probably looked like a complete mess, what with the nose and whatever Mizar had written on her face. She definitely felt like a mess.

                Anyway, some time had passed since Hadley had been locked in the escape pod, and after looking out of the window since then, she thought she might have spotted something interesting.

                That patch of stars was shimmering, like heat radiation from a ship’s engine. It was ever so slight, almost impossible to notice, but it was there.

An UL-TRA stealth ship. Hadley actually flew one of those once; after scoring in the 90th percentile on her piloting exam, she was invited to join the program. In the end, she didn’t make the cut, but she still had friends and memories from that brief stint as a stealth pilot. It was a very thin ship, she remembered – hard to even sit up straight in the cockpit - with chameleon paint and precision fusion cannons stored in each wing. No teleporter: they didn’t want to give off any stray signals.

                No teleporter. Clearly, the UL had learned from their last encounter with Mizar. They shot to kill now.

                Hadley breathed out, long and slow. She was on her own, stuck on an enemy ship with no plan. Even with Alcor’s offer, she was beginning to think there was no way out of this. That she might…

                Die. A sudden surge of emotions made Hadley’s eyes water, and she rubbed them furiously.

                No need for the waterworks; she was just thinking logically here. Worst case scenario, she gets her head blown off by a space pirate. Would that… be so bad? They’d almost certainly catch Mizar as soon as she lost her hostage, so in a way… that was a good thing. That was a good thing.

                She was fine with this, really. She just wished she had a little more time. Or at least, she wished she’d valued the time she had a little more. The past four years had been a blur, and she honestly couldn’t remember what she’d done on her days off. Slept, probably. Hung out with a friend down at the KAFAANTIC-themed café she liked, once or twice.

                She should have done that more. She should have done a lot of things more. Being captured and held for ransom – and Hadley gave a hollow chuckle at this – seemed to bring all of life’s regrets into the spotlight in a way nothing else quite could.

It was really rather fascinating, if she ignored the fact that she was sitting in a broken escape pod with a broken nose, trying not to cry.

Her eyes wandered to the stealth ship again, and she noticed the shimmering was gone. They’d moved on.

So should she.

                Hadley took a deep, shuddering breath, and let it out. She stood up, giving her eyes one last wipe. No more sitting around feeling sorry for herself; think of a way out of this ship, and then worry about all the stuff she wanted to do. And where was Alcor? He usually showed up when she was alone… no, wait.

                She glanced out of the hatch window, to see Chance staring daggers in her direction, sitting on a chair with his blaster resting on his lap. So she wasn’t alone. Good to know.

                Okay, no Alcor. What else-

                And Hadley didn’t finish that train of thought. A thin, sharp, dreadful sound pierced her ears – the sound of a cold fusion cannon, close – and then, half a second later, an explosion.

                _Fffffshhh_ - _BABOOOOOOOM!_

                Hadley was thrown backwards as the entire ship rocked back from the blast. She fell, fell… and kept falling, kept tumbling over and over in the air until she caught a handle on the hatch and steadied herself. The gravity calibration system must have been targeted! Not good.

                She couldn’t see Chance anymore. The flashlight, once hanging suspended on the ceiling, now drifted sideways, its tether loose as it floated in microgravity. Not. Good.

                _Fffffffshhhhh-BABOOOOOOM!_

                Even louder this time. The ship rattled against the blast, and Hadley took her hands off the handle. She pushed herself around to see debris flying past her window. The stars tilted and began to slide upwards.

                There came a harsh banging at the hatch, which startled Hadley. It was Chance! He was upside down, and appeared to be having trouble opening the door. The ship really began to start spinning, and the growing centrifugal force began to pull him towards the ceiling. The flashlight bunched up by its tether.

                He banged on the door again, shouting something unintelligible at Hadley. She grabbed the handle again to keep herself from floating towards the ceiling.

                Fffffffshhhhhhhh-

                A thin white light cut across the escape pod room. Oh, shit-

                _BABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!_

                Hadley covered her head as the blast hit. Just in time, too; pain ran hot up her arm as it hit the side of the escape pod and- ow ow ow OW OW OW

                She jerked her arm back, gasping in pain. She looked down at the culprit; a jagged hole in the hatch window, lined with glass shards and emitting a low, sucking noise.

                Yeah, that’d do it. Wait…

                Hadley looked out of the cracked window, and saw a part of a ship- a large part of a ship, a whole ship, a big battleship with the name ULSS Manatorunus plastered on the side, surrounded by open space. She looked back at the hole, gradually getting bigger as glass shards were sucked into the void. The temperature seemed to drop by the second, her breath becoming a visible cloud that was siphoned out of the hole.

                Hadley felt a rush of panic. Training took over, and she pushed herself back and slapped her chest, hard. Immediately, she felt her Emergency Cabin Decompression Implants begin to work.

                ECDI’s were old technology, predating the UL. They looked like very thin bands, anchored to the left and right phrenic nerves. In the middle was a needle, firmly attached to the aortic arch. Upon activation, they did two things: first, the anchors on either side blocked signals from reaching the diaphragm, causing it to relax and expel air from the lungs. The needle injected adrenaline and anaerobic energy-producing fluid into the bloodstream, enough to keep someone conscious for at most a minute and a half.

                Both processes were extremely uncomfortable. However, they were preferable to the alternative, which was busting a lung trying to hold one’s breath in space, passing out in fifteen seconds, being unable to rescue oneself, and freezing/burning/asphyxiating to death in the dark, uncaring void between worlds.

                You know, like what Hadley was experiencing right now. The spiderweb in the glass thickened, and finally broke altogether, sending her and any remaining air hurtling out of the pod.

                And there she was. Floating in space like a fly drowning in a vast ocean. It was so, so cold; the hair on her exposed, shaking hands stood up and formed goosebumps. They seemed bigger too, like sausages, turning blue at the ends from the bitter cold. Her mouth felt weird, as did her upper lip. The saliva and the blood from her broken nose started to boil as she drifted, tilting forwards ever so slightly.

                It was absolutely silent. Hadley might have screamed, but nothing and no one heard her.

                She had all but forgotten about the ship, but the slow turning revealed it to her once more. The Manatorunus looked heavily damaged, debris surrounding it like a great cloud. It was also spinning quite fast, stern over bow, stern over bow, stern over bow. She saw the thrusters were on full blast, driving the ship  to spin ever faster until it was very hard to make out any details beyond a grayish blur.

                The stealth ships seemed to have no such problem. A bright blast coming from near the stern hit the Manatorunus, and the thrusters shut off. Momentum kept the ship going.

                Hadley’s hands were entirely blue now, swollen to twice their size. She tried to move. Her finger twitched, and it sent her into so much pain she dared not try again. Ice had formed in her mouth and down her windpipe, cold little shards of fire.

                Something bright caught her eye, something bright coming out of the back of the Manatorunus. It looked golden, and it was flung away from the ship in a great spiral. Was that actually gold? It looked like gold.

                A stealth ship got in the way, and Hadley could only watch as the pieces of gold punched through the ship like bullets through paper. The chameleon paint failed, and a wing broke off. The ship drifted there for a few more seconds, and then exploded in a great white cloud, sending shards of itself and pieces of treasure in all directions.

                Hadley just watched; she couldn’t seem to summon up a thought or feeling or anything, and she was beginning to black out. This was it. This was the end.

                Except it wasn’t. All around her was black with stars, and then it was white. She was on a floor… people were picking her up.

                A voice. “Alright, you got her? Medical ward, go, go, go! Don’t let the hostage die!”

                And then no more.

 

* * *

 

 

 

                Hadley woke up before she opened her eyes. She sat there in the dark, in the peace, and for a moment, it seemed as though all was well.

                It was a shame it only lasted so long.

                “Hey, she’s awake again! You’re a miracle worker, Patchie!” Poke. “Hey, hey, wake up!”

                Hadley cracked her eyes open to see Mizar looming over her. The space pirate had a white bandage wrapped around her head.

                “There she is! There’s the space walker! How’re you feeling?”

                She opened her mouth… and that was as far as she got. Mizar laughed.

                “Yeah, the neurodampening’s working, I can see. Eh, I’ll ask you when it wears off. Come on!”

                Mizar took Hadley’s hand, and pulled her towards the door. She floated… floated? Right, the gravity calibration.

                “Look at this! Isn’t this awesome?” Mizar shoved her down a hallway, and she kept drifting. “Wheee! This is so much easier than it used to be! Why don’t we do this all the- oh, watch out!”

                Hadley watched as she smacked into the wall at the end of the corridor.

                “Whoops. I guess I can see why. Too many concussions!” She pointed to her bandaged head. “I got a concussion from the first blast. Hit my head on a wall, not fun! Luckily, Patch fixed me up after the fight. Now I’m fine!” Her eye twitched. “Totally fine. Now let’s go!”

                She pushed Hadley down the next hallway. A breach in the floor had been hastily patched up with emergency seal, leaving a big glob of brown in its place.

                Hadley frowned. “Wait… you did… the ship… the gold…”

                “Yup, that was me! I told’em to spin the ship around and then open the cargo doors, and it worked! But now I don’t have any treasure anymore, so that was kind of dumb. What kind of pirate am I without treasure? Clearly I wasn’t in the right mind- oh, watch out!”

                Hadley hit the wall again, and felt a slight tingling around her broken nose where the excruciating pain was supposed to be. Good thing she was neurodampened.

                Mizar giggled. “Oh, right, I gotta stop doing that. Fine, we’re nearly there, I’ll do it the boring way. Come on!”

                Taking Hadley’s arm, she guided her gently towards the helm. As the big doors opened, Hadley suddenly wondered what she was doing here. She verbalized this question, albeit in a slightly less articulate manner.

                “Wait… why?”

                It got the point across.

                “Because I need you, for a little favour.” Mizar pointed to one of the pirates strapped down to their station. “Open communications!”

                Mizar’s chair was secured to the ground with some rope. She carefully maneuvered herself into a sitting position and kept a tight grip on Hadley. The cockpit window was obscured by drifting dull red clouds: a nebula of sorts.

                Then it was wiped away as the communications opened. A woman’s smiling face appeared on screen.

                “Welcome to Nebula Extraordinare, your one stop shop for all-“ Her eyes fell on Hadley, and the smile died.

                Mizar’s, on the other hand, only grew. “Aww, thank you for the warm welcome! I've got the fuzzies. Hey, listen, I’ll lay it out straight for you. We’re a fugitive ship. You’ll take one look at us, and you’ll go, ‘yeah, that’s a fugitive ship. I should call the space cops.' But you seem like a nice person, so I’m gonna tell you why that’s a bad idea.”

                She made a signal to one of her crewmembers. A beeping started up on the woman’s panel, and she paled.

                “Yeah, you hear that? That’s the sound of our cold fusion cannon targeting you. We used to have two, now we have one, it doesn’t matter. You’re a tiny little station in the middle of nowhere. Believe me when I say one will do the trick just fine.” Mizar leaned forwards. “So what do you say, Nebula Extraordinare? Are you our one stop shop?”

                “Um…” The woman struggled to form words. “I… You’re the Mantorunus!”

                “Yeah, I already told you we’re fugitives. This is old news. Yawn. I’m bored. Give us an answer.”

                “Uh…”

                “Do you need more motivation?” Mizar drew her blaster and pressed it to the back of Hadley’s head. “How about a timer? I’ll start from ten, but I’ll count fast: ten, nine, eight, seven, six-!”

                “Wait, wait! We’ll do it! We’ll do it!”

                Mizar grinned. “Good choice. Now, I hear you guys offer repairs, refueling _and_ you have a small restaurant on site?”

                The woman jerked her head up and down.

                “Now that’s luxury! We’re gonna need a lot of all three, okay? As you can see,” She let go of Hadley, who began to float. “Our grav-cal’s kinda shot, and our power’s coming from the backup grid, and, uh… what else? Oh, right, they hit our fuel tanks. We are tankless. Without a tank. Sans tanké. Takes two to tank-o. I’m sorry, what were we talking about again?”

                The woman stared at her blankly. “Uh… what is your method of payment?”

 “Gold, of course. I’ve got in all in the cargo hold; I call that my wallet! So are we good? Can I pull ’er in?”

                “Yes! Um, yes, you can do that now.”

                “Awesome! But remember, we’ve got fusion cannons and a hostage. No funny business. Byeee!” The communications cut out, and Mizar pursed her lips. “Shoot. I jettisoned my wallet.”

“What are we gonna do, Captain?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. We’ll just blow them up afterwards. If you can’t bribe ‘em, bury ‘em!” She reached up and grabbed Hadley. “Come on. I gotta find a place for you to go!”

Hadley stared at the back of Mizar’s head as she led them away. She didn’t get it. She’d been blown away from the ship, faced death in open space, but she still ended back up as Mizar’s prisoner. Maybe it was the neuro dampeners working their magic, but by any logical standards, she should be free by now. Dead, but free. 

She just didn’t get it.


	8. Chapter 8

                In the haze of a nebula floated a little space station, nothing more than three airlocked buildings and two uncovered docks sticking out on either side. It was dwarfed in size by the ship parked up next to it; a crippled giant with ULSS Manatorunus painted on the side, peppered by holes and still hemorrhaging debris.

                The longest building, cheerfully labeled in neon lettering as ‘Come For the Fuel, Stay For the Food!’ (and nothing else; presumably this was the name of the diner) was a little worn and dusty, but the lights were on inside, giving it a cozy appearance as it nestled within the clouds of the nebula.

                Appearances were deceiving.

                All the tables in the diner had been pulled into a line, and yet it was not nearly enough to house the crew of the Manatorunus. They took it in shifts instead. Twenty nine of them were seated now, with Mizar at the head. They downed cheap ERNARERE methanol mixtures and talked with booming voices, stopping occasionally to lean back and shake their empty bowls at terrified waitresses who hurriedly refilled them whilst the pirates looked on, clearly enjoying the power trip. The sorry state of their ship outside seemed not to trouble them in the slightest as they laughed the night away.

                In the middle of the throng sat Hadley. The neuro dampeners had worn off some time ago, leaving her nauseous and in pain, her hands still tingling from her little space flight. The overpowering smell of alcohol was not helping to alleviate this growing problem, and neither were the crew.

                The pirate on her right waved a tarry mixture under her nose, and her stomach turned. “Wanshum Black Hole Brew?”

                Hadley shook her head. He grunted.

                “Bloody UL.”

                “Hey, hey,” Something wet on her back; Hadley whirled around to see another pirate holding an empty bowl, laughing in her face. Their breath stank of rotting teeth and alcohol. “Looked like you need to cool down!”

                A deep red, grainy substance dripped from the edge of the bowl. Hadley could feel the rest of it slowly sliding down her spine. It was actually rather warm, which was A - disgusting and B – completely contradicting what this drunken pirate was going for. Not that she’d dare point that out to someone with ‘Gold, Glory and UL Guts’ written on the side of their blaster, but it was something to note.

                The pirate then held their bowl out. “Hey, I need a refill now!”

                “Coming!” The woman from the screen ran over with a pot and ladle. She shot Hadley a sympathetic look as she doled out thirds. “Would you like anything else?”

                They shook their head and downed the mixture. A guy across from them took notice and started chanting, “Chug! Chug! Chug!” which was quickly picked up by the rest of the table. The pirate slammed it back on the table with a gasp, and they broke out into applause.

                “Hey, nice one!” Mizar’s voice rang above the crowd. She took that moment to rise from her seat, and the clapping died away. “Well, hello everybody! Are you having a wonderful time?”

                Hadley was decidedly not, but she was in the minority. The whooping and shouting from the table brought a smile to Mizar’s face.

                “Good to hear! Good to hear…” She swayed and slurred her words as she spoke. “Now, we’re having good fun now, but I’d like to take the shecond to remind – to remember some of the casualties, we’ve suffered this here today. There’s, ah… who died again?”

                The pirate on Hadley’s right spoke up. “Vont and Nov from engines.”

                “Oh, those guys. Pair of troublemakers, those two… I’ll miss them.”

                “And Kenderr! Wouldn’t evacuate the bloody power unit when I told her that’d be next!”

                “Haven’t seen Yake since the attack…”

                “What? I’m right here, asshole!”

                Mizar snorted. “Slow down there, Daf. Not everybody you haven’t seen today is dead!”

                A raucous laughter erupted from the crew, and Hadley just wanted to cover her ears. Everything was too bright, too loud… what she wouldn’t give to be in that escape pod again.

                “Hey, what about that guy, the angry guy with the black box sash… Chance! Yeah. Is he still around?”

                The laugh died on Mizar’s face, to be replaced with a wide-eyed, stricken expression Hadley had never seen her wear before. She stared at one pirate as he shook his head.

                “Nah, he kicked it. He was guarding the prisoner when it all went down.”

                “Oh.” Daf nodded ponderously – or perhaps drunkenly would be a better descriptor. “He was a strange guy.”

                “Strange guy, yeah, that’s putting it neatly. He had a screw loose.” Yake rolled her eyes. “And I know you don’t speak ill of the dead, but I’m just saying what needs to be said, y’know? What do you think, Capt’n? Captain?”

                Mizar blinked. “What? Oh, haha, right! Yeah, real weirdo, that one! Yeah…” She trailed off, and took a swig from her bowl. “Yeah, I’d know. He was my cellmate for five years, so that was… so screw him, right? Is that funny? Am I being funny here? Let’s all make fun of a dead man, yay!”

                “Captain?“

                “Get out of here.” A pause. Mizar looked up at her frozen crew, and slammed her hands down on the table. Bowls rattled and dropped on the floor. “ _Get out of here_!”

                Then she sat there, hands clutching her forehead. One by one, the pirates stood up, and began shuffling towards the door. Hadley rose too, unsteadily.

                Without looking up, she spoke. “No, you stay. And you…" She pointed a finger in the general direction of her crew. "Send the next group in when you get to the ship.”

                Yake nodded. “Yes, Capt’n.”

                And they left quietly, the sound of their footsteps the only noise they made. One pirate even took a moment to close the door softly behind them.

                And Hadley was alone with the Dread Pirate Mizar. She sat back down in her chair, feeling the blood rushing up her throat, then back down to her feet and all around. She could hear her heart beating. She looked at the bathroom sign at the far end of the room; she might need to dash to that in a moment.

“                Do you think...” Mizar started abruptly, and trailed off. Hadley turned to her where she sat at the end of the empty table, kneading her forehead. Greasy, grey-brown hair spilled through her fingers and over her face. More ran down her neck and hung from her shoulders. A strand rested in her mostly-empty bowl.

                Nobody came to refill it. The waitresses seemed to have completely disappeared.

                With a movement, Mizar brushed the hair out of her face; the dipped strand was tucked behind her ear, dyed a greenish-blue. She looked up, not at Hadley, but out into space.

                “Do you think,” Mizar started again. “Do you think, Chance, and all that… do you think that’s on me?”

                Hadley could have lied, but the answer was so blindingly obvious she couldn’t help but reply with an immediate, “Absolutely.”

                “No, I mean… he could have gotten out of there, he could have done something-“

                “Everything that happened today, happened because of you. You need to take responsibility for that.”

                Hadley expected some snarky retort, or a laugh, or something… but no. Mizar’s face crumpled, and she put her head back in her hands without a word. She didn’t cry, but it was as plain as day to see how small, how broken, how human she looked, with the weight of the stars on her shoulders.

                This was a very different Mizar than Hadley was used to. Evidently her words were having an effect, but she didn’t know how far she could press this new, vulnerable person.

                She decided to try her luck. “It’s not too late. You can still do the right thing.”

                Mizar said nothing.

                “Turn yourself in.”

                Mizar’s head shot up. “I’m never going back to prison. Never.”

                “Alright, then disappear.” Hadley tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. “There’s whole superclusters out there the UL’s never set foot in - other criminals do it all the time. We can’t do anything about it, we just close the files. I don’t care if we never see your face again, just…” Her voice was rising. She took a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone. “Just don’t finish this, please. Your battleship is heavily damaged. You can’t win. You’re going to get killed. Your crew is going to get killed. That clearly matters to you. Do you want that?”

                Mizar had been watching Hadley as she spoke, her expression turning from a skeptical frown to pure shock, and then, at the last second, to a resigned smile. She shook her head.

                “Why not?”

                “I’m really tipsy right now, so for a moment you, you kinda had me going.” She slowly reached over, and pulled her backpack onto her lap. “I’m not just saying that, you should go be a motivashunal speaker or something. I mean, I was ready to go! Ha! Yeah, not happening. I’ve worked too hard for this.”

                Hadley frowned as she fished in her bag. “The next time the UL finds you, they’re going to kill you.”

                “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Mizar set a small box on the table. “But that’s – you’ll see when the time comes. But I’m fairly successful, you know? As a pirate. I’ve seen the highs and the lows, I’ve made it big, I’ve broken out of prison. I threw a battleship into a freaking star! Also, I went around burying my treasure before all this, so that was pretty fun.” She opened the box. “My whole, my whole life’s basically built up to this moment; you think I’m gonna quit and find a nice quiet system to live out the rest of my life in peace and obshurity? No, no. The world’s gonna remember me. I’ll make it remember me if I have to.”

                “Why?”

                “Life’s cool and all, but you’ve only got so much time. Then you die and you get the whole soul reincarnation thing. But you know, ‘you’, you’re gone.” She paused, looking out into space. “If you don’t stand out, you’re just the newest in a long line of faceless Mizars. And nobody remembers the ones in between. It’s worse than death, in my opinion. It’s like you never existed.”

                Hadley blinked. “Wha- what?”

                “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? Yeah, you’re UL. You have no idea.”

                “But wait. What about your crew?”

                “Pirating’s a dangerous job. They knew the risks when they signed up.” She drew out a needle, which immediately caught Hadley’s attention. “I think old Chancy would’ve liked to go out with a fusion to the face. It’s fitting, now that I think about it. It’s fine.”

                Mizar moved the needle up, and Hadley cringed. “What are you doing?”

                “Making sure I don’t die from alcohol poisoning.” She picked up a bowl and waved it at Hadley. “The ERNARERE guys brew with methanol alcohol, not ethol-ethen- eth… whatever the name is for the one we can drink. Tastes great until you go blind, pass out and never wake up.”

                “Don’t your anti-tox implants cover that?”

                “Don’t have‘em.”

                Hadley raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? They’re part of the standard regiment.”

                “Well, I don’t have’em.”

                “Wait… you don’t have any implants?”

                “Nnnnope. Don’t need’em.”

                Hadley probably would have stared slackjawed at Mizar for the rest of the evening, but then the pirate lifted up the shawl resting on her arm and inserted the needle. That was apparently the last straw for her stomach; hands clapped over her mouth, she stood up and made a run for the bathroom.

                “I checked the bathroom,” Mizar called from behind. “No escape routes!”

                Hadley reached the bathroom, stumbled into one of the stalls, and the threw up. When she emerged, feeling slightly drained, slightly weak-kneed, slightly better, she was more than slightly embarrassed to find the woman from the communication feed standing in the corner, staring at her.

                “Uh… hello.” Hadley made a beeline for the faucet. “Do you need something?”

                “Captain Hadley, right?”

                “Yes, that’s me.”

                The woman gave a little gasp. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I saw a girl on the news circuits talking about you. Janna? Gem?”

                “Jant?”

                “Yes, Jant! She’s pleading for the UL to send another diplomatic vessel, but after the battleship plunged into the sun I just don’t see them taking any more chances.”

                Hadley shook her hands dry. “Oh, alright. Thanks for the information?”

                “No, no, I’m sorry, I’m just a bit flustered.” She stuck her thumb at the door. “I mean the Manatorunus turns up at my station and, hoo, I think I’ve had enough of deep space. I’m moving back to the Homeworlds. Anyway I’ve gotta ask you something.”

                “Ask it.” A pause. “What’s your question?”

                Nothing. Hadley turned to look at the woman, who was now standing there, her expression completely blank. Her eyes were glassy, and they had a strange golden shine to them. Then she blinked several times. “What?”

                Hadley frowned. “Are you okay?”

                “You’re asking me if I’m fine? Oh, don’t worry about me, I’m just a little flustered.” She stuck her thumb at the door. “I mean the Manatorunus turns up at my station and, hoo, I think I’ve had enough of deep space. I’m moving back to the Homeworlds. Anyway, how are you feeling? You poor thing.”

                “Uhhh…”

                “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. Just know that my family and I, we’ve got your back. My sister used to be in the UL. If there’s anything we can do for you, just ask.”

                Slowly, Hadley said. “What did you want to ask me?”

                “No, no. You can ask me if you need anything. I’m Wenjy, by the way.”

                Hadley stood there for a moment, then sighed. “Nevermind. Listen, there’s something I have to tell you. Mizar isn’t planning on paying you; she’s going to blow this station up once she’s done with it.”

                Wenjy’s eyes bugged out. “Oh, dear!”

                “Yes. So if there’s any way you can escape, take your family and run.” Hadley heard a noise outside, and she stepped back. “I’ve got to go.”

                She opened the door, and saw another group of pirates entering the diner. Mizar was standing, a grin larger than her face as she moved to greet them. The box was gone.

                “Hey, you’re all late! You left me with vomit comet over there.” Mizar ushered them to the table. “Come on guys, let’s sit down, get the drinks going. Hey, lady! Where’d the lady go?”

 

* * *

 

                “Sabotage! Sabotage!”

                Hadley opened her eyes. She sat up from where she lay on the dining table to see a pirate burst in through the doors, waving his arms.

                “Sabotage!”

                Mizar was on her feet. “What’s the matter?”

                “There’s an explosion in the tanks, Captain! Then I see this little ship take off from the auxillary dock! I can’t find the employees anywhere; they’ve given us the slip!”

                There was a collection of gasps around the table. Pirates went pale and talked among themselves.

                “UL’s gonna be alerted-“

                “-send their best ships-“

                “-end of the line for us, for sure.”

                “What do we do, Captain?” The pirate asked. “The engines are completely shot; we’re stranded!”

                And Mizar… Mizar smiled. “Hey, hey, don't panic, guys,” She said, a nasty edge to her voice. “This isn't the end. We're just getting started."


	9. Chapter 9

“Alright, so here’s how it’s gonna go down. In chess form!” Mizar emptied a bunch of chess pieces – amongst other things - on the cockpit floor, and then grinned at a sea of worried faces. “Side note, isn’t it great that they at least fixed the grav-cal before they blew us up? It was fun at first, but it got old quick, and really, this would just be a nightmare.”

“What’s the plan, Captain?”

“Yeesh, you’re stressed, aren’t you? Don’t worry, I’m getting to it.” She picked up a checkers piece. “Alright, this is me. What is this, a pawn? Eh, doesn’t matter. This is me. When the UL ships arrive, I’m in the cockpit. Sike!” She moved it to another piece of paper. “I’m in the teleporter room with one, two, three of you’s who don’t have tracking implants. Yake, you’re not tracked, are you?”

Yake shook her head. “Not by the UL.”

“Not just by the UL, silly. Any trackers ping on a teleporter.”

“Oh, then no. I’ve got an ease of teleport chip.” Yake frowned. “What are we teleporting to, anyway?”

 “I’ll tell you in a moment. Anyone? Anyone without a tracker?” Two hands went up, and Mizar let out a low whistle. “Jeez, I’m glad I don’t need many of you. Anyway, we’re all there when the big ol’ ships start coming in. Yake – actually, I’m glad you’re staying – you’re captain.”

Yake blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, you get… this piece!” She picked up a knight piece and placed it on the paper labeled ‘cockpit’. “I think this is the king? It’s my favourite. Anyway, you’re captain; as far as the UL needs to know, I’m dead. The explosion killed me or something, and you took over. Got it?”

“Yeah. You died, I’m captain. What do I do when the ships start showing up?”

“White flag signal. Spam it. Spam it as many times as you can – if there’s media ships, spam those too. They’ll accept our surrender, and then they’ll move within comms distance to discuss terms.”

“And that means they’ll get within teleporting distance too.” Yake frowned. “Wait, please don’t tell me you’re trying to teleport onto a battleship. Have you seen the size of the one that’s chasing us? There’s no way-“

“Ah, ah, ah! You’re getting ahead of me, Captain Yake. Now,” Mizar glanced at Hadley, who was being held by two pirates. She picked up a castle piece. “We’ve got our hostage. Once they’re on the line, bring her out. Oh, and also, make sure to gag her too. I can’t help but feel like we should have done that earlier, don’t you think?”

Hadley stiffened at the question, and Mizar winked at her. She knew Hadley was behind the sabotage, didn’t she? Oh, she definitely knew. Not good.

“Understood.” Yake crossed her arms. “So, what do I say? Am I stalling for time?”

“No. Just don’t look suspicious. Be cooperative, but don’t agree to anything. Tell ‘em what they want to hear, you know?” Mizar reached up to her neck. “Don’t worry. I only need a few minutes.”

The crew leaned forwards as she drew something up and over her head. A necklace of some sort? No, she recognized it: the bluish crystal wrapped in string that Chance had made her wear some time ago. Evidently the crew recognized it too, and let out an assortment of groans.

“What?” Mizar raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like my cunning plan? You haven’t even heard it yet!”

Yake cleared her throat. “Captain Mizar, with all due respect… remember that the tessercrystal only barely worked last time, on one of the smallest battleship classes. There’s no way we could take control of a larger ship.”

Tessercrystals? Hadley blinked – that was what it was. Wait, that little stone defeated the Manatorunus?

The question must have been clear on her face, because Mizar smiled. “I remember. Yeah, we put one of these little guys in our teleporter and broadcasted the signal onto the Manatorunus; their teleporter started going haywire and sending the crew out into space. From there, it was just a simple matter of mopping up the survivors.”

Hadley shivered as she remembered her own brief excursion into space. To think that was the fate of the crew… what a horrible way to die.

“Yes, but there were quite a lot of survivors.” Yake said. “It was a mess. And now you’re saying we do that again to an even bigger ship? I just don’t think we have the numbers, Captain!”

“Hey, hey, I just said I know how the last time turned out. That’s why we’re not going to do it like last time.”

“What do you mean?”

Mizar gently swung the tessercrystal from side to side, like a pendulum. “See, when I got this thing, the guy who made it did some calculations. There were two ways he suggested we could do this: we could broadcast the disrupting signal to the Manatorunus’ teleporter, or we could actually teleport on board and insert the crystal directly into it. The second way was far, far more powerful – far more dangerous, which is why I didn’t go for it, but, like, orders of magnitude more powerful.”

She coiled the crystal back into her hand. “We do this, and they’ll all just get flung into space, leaving us with a fun new toy called – what’re those big guys called again? - a UL Juggernaut. Even the name sounds cool! With firepower like that, we don’t have to bother with all the tricks and planning and boring stuff like that; we just get to cruise around and blow stuff up! And who here wants to blow stuff up?”

There was a general murmuring of agreement amongst the pirates. Mizar frowned.

“Really, guys? Like five of you are arsonists. Come on, who wants to blow stuff up!”

One of the pirates without a tracking device nodded. “Yeah, let’s do this. Let’s do this!”

“Yeah! Down with the UL!”

“Down with the UL!”

“Ar-son! Ar-son!”

“Down with the UL! Down with the UL! _Down with the UL_!”

There was that chanting again, so loud and so close it buzzed in Hadley’s ears. She saw Mizar sit back, a snakelike smile stretched across her face as she pulled the tessercrystal necklace back over her head. Mizar, who might soon be at the helm of a Juggernaut class battleship.

When she had last heard the chanting, Hadley felt like she was watching the world end. Now, in this moment, she felt like she was watching the very downfall of the UL. It was like the grav-cal was broken all over again, and the floor was shifting under her feet. Everything was up in the air.

Mizar finally met her gaze. She opened her palm, revealing the castle piece. With that same awful grin, she curled her fingers back over it, obscuring it once more from view.

The chanting slowed, and Mizar cleared her throat.

“Alright, alright. Glad I’ve got you guys’es support! Now all we have to do is sit back and wait. Everybody into positions!” She put a hand on Yake’s shoulder. “Good luck, Captain Yake.”

Yake cracked a smile. “You know, it’s ‘suspected arsonist’. I was never actually convicted on those specific charges.”

“Then you should have no problem not getting caught again, eh?”

“I mean, I was still convicted. Stupid tax evasion.”

Mizar snorted. “You’ll do fine, don’t even worry about it. Now, everybody vamoose! You two, take the prisoner to the hold. Let’s go, people!”

The crowd began to disperse, and Hadley was shoved this way and that as the two pirates holding her tried to shove their way through the doors. She barely even noticed; her mind was focused on one, singular thought.

Mizar had to be stopped.

 

 

* * *

 

The door to the hold was inches thick, password locked. It opened slowly, revealing a pitch black hole into the belly of the ship. Cold air exuded from the darkness, like breath.

“Pretty secure looking,” One of the pirates said. “I wonder why we never used this to hold the prisoner before?”

“Dunno. Mizar probably has a reason. She’s got a reason for everything..” They shoved Hadley forwards, and the temperature plunged as soon as she passed the doorway. “Seeya later, space waste!”

One of them made to slam it, but the door was so heavy they just ended up scrabbling, huffing and puffing. The other pirate rolled his eyes, waved him away and typed in the code. The door began to swing shut, and he waved at her through the thinning crack.

“See you later.”

Then it shut, and the last scrap of light emptied from the hold. All was black, and the coldness was all around Hadley now, brushing against her skin and drawing out goosebumps. The air was dry and stale; the sound of her breathing it was all to be heard.

Hadley stood there disoriented for a second, and then leaned forwards to find the door. It was closer that she expected. She kept her hand on the smooth, cold metal, anchoring herself, and then took a deep breath.

She had… a plan. It came to her whilst she was being escorted, this simple idea that might, _might_ , just work. It was quite amazing; after being stuck here so long, out of ideas, out of options, this lightbulb turned on in her mind, and now she could finally see a way out.

A light in the darkness. All she had to do was convince someone else to help her.

Hadley opened her mouth. “Alcor?

The word echoed in the huge hold, like a thousand people calling his name. _Alcor? Alcor? Alcor? Alcor…_

One by one, they faded out.

Silence.

Just as Hadley began to think he wouldn’t show up, two golden eyes opened from the darkness. Alcor conjured a bright blue fire from his hands, which illuminated him and nothing else. He stood on the void, and waved.

“Hello, Hadley.” He smiled, a bit too widely. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Something about that smile set her senses off. Hadley shook off the feeling.

“I need something from you.”

“Whoa, right out of the gates, huh?”

“I don’t know how much time we have.” Hadley traced a line in the metal. “When the fleet comes, I want you to teleport me on board one of the ships.”

He frowned. “I told you, I can’t-“

“Mizar won’t know, because Mizar’s not going to be on her ship. Once I’m off the Manatorunus, the UL won’t negotiate with them; they’ll blow it up, and then they’ll be able to capture Mizar. She won’t be able to continue pirating ever again.”

Alcor raised an eyebrow. “Or Mizar refuses to be captured, and goes down fighting. I think you and I both know your scenario is a little optimistic.”

“I can’t guarantee that’s not going to happen, but we need to act now. Mizar is in position to capture a Juggernaut; have you seen the size of those ships?”

“Of course I have.” He started to smile. “I actually posed as a crewmember for one of those once. A lot more boring than I thought it’d be.”

“Okay… well, you understand how world-endingly bad it’d be if she got her hands on one of those, right?”

He shrugged. He actually shrugged. “I mean, it’d be bad, but it wouldn’t be like the end of the world… what?”

Hadley was so close to getting out of here. She was so close to leaving this dark, desolate hellhole of a ship, so close to stopping Mizar from carrying out what could be one of the worst atrocities in UL history… _if only she could get him to listen_!

She pushed herself off the wall. “Alright, demon. So you don’t care about all the lives you’re gonna save, or anything like that. Fine.  Then let’s make a deal; what do you want in exchange for teleporting me to the UL ship when it comes?”

He looked little worried, but his eyes twinkled in amusement at the question. “What can you give me?”

“Anything. I don’t care. Just get me on that ship.”

The amusement disappeared from his eyes, to be replaced with… well, Hadley didn’t quite know how to describe it. The fire in his hands burned higher. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

His lips parted slightly, and he leaned forwards, his wings shivering behind him. He look one stumbling step forwards as if to catch himself. His hand, tipped with claws, extended towards Hadley, and even though he was a distance away she could _feel_ it again, that unsettling tugging sensation at the core of her being.

She took a step back, and hit a wall. Luckily for her, Alcor blinked, and retreated back into himself. The flame in his hand flared up… and then settled into a dim, steady burn.

“Don’t _ever_ …” Alcor spoke breathlessly. “Don’t ever, offer that to me again. You have no idea, _no idea_ , what that entails.”

Hadley said nothing, and slowly he composed himself. Without meeting her eyes, he began to speak again.

“I can see where you’re going with this, and I want to help you, I really do, but…” He sighed. “This is my mistake. I’ve worked too hard to fix it; I can’t just let her die. She doesn’t deserve that. Can you… can you just talk to her?”

Hadley shook her head. “I tried. That’s not going to work. Besides, I won’t have a chance; she’s teleporting into the ship once they get into range.”

“You’re right. She’ll be on the ship.” He blinked. “She’ll be on the ship… oh my god I have the most brilliant idea! What if I teleported you onto the ship?”

“Uh, isn’t that my idea?”

“Well, sort of my idea and sort of your idea, but meshed together! Hear me out.” Alcor set the blue fire to the side and started gesticulating as he talked. “So Mizar’s going to be working on the teleporter, okay? And she’s going to be all alone – well, mostly alone, but I can take care of that. And when you come in, you can be alone with her, you can talk her down… once she realizes.” He nodded to himself. “That way, we both get what we want. This could, this could actually work! What do you think?”

There was no way that was going to work. Hadley was going to be stuck in a room with a murderous pirate as she watched her ship and crew get blasted to pieces; she wasn’t going to talk Mizar down, she was going to end up with a blaster to her face. She was just about to voice this to Alcor, who was looking at her with such a hopeful face, light shining in his eyes…

 _Just talk to her._ That was all this guy’s plans boiled down to. Shove her and Mizar together in a room and things will magically work themselves out. That wasn’t hope. That was desperation, and she was sure if she shot down this plan, he’d come up with another one that was essentially the same thing. He wasn’t going to let her go.

“Well? What do you think?”

Hadley looked him dead in the eyes. “I like it. Just one quick question: will she be aware that I’m in the room? I deal with criminals a lot, and they tend to startle at sudden noises and, you know, shoot at me. It might break down communications.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t hear you.”

“Good. You teleport me on board, and I make sure she gives up piracy.”

“I can do that.” He held up his hand, wreathed with flames, and, seeing Hadley’s blank stare, added, “You’re supposed to shake it for deals.”

“Won’t it burn me?”

Alcor laughed. “That depends on how much I like you.”

A pause.

“That was a joke, it’s not actual flames. And I do like you, so even if it was, it wouldn’t- it’s fine, just take it. It’s fine.”

Gingerly, Hadley took his hand. The flames spread up her arm when she shook it, but true to his word, she felt nothing but a slight tingling feeling that passed as soon as she let go.

“It’s done, then.” Hadley started to smile. “I’m getting out of here.”

“Yes, you are. You know, I’m really glad you stuck with me; I know I haven’t given off the best impression since we’ve met.” He chuckled uncomfortably, the memories of their meeting no doubt replaying in his head. They were certainly playing in Hadley’s. “But as soon as this is over we’ll have to meet up, just the three of us.”

“The three of us… you, me and Mizar?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun! Of course, we’ll probably have to go to a really distant planet because of the whole outlaw thing, but still. It’ll be like old times!”

Hadley had an image of her, a demon, and a ruthless pirate captain having a picnic on some undiscovered habitable planet halfway across the cosmos. It was patently ridiculous, but looking at Alcor’s nostalgic smile, he seemed to be imagining something very different.

Demons were ancient, she remembered. How many of her past lives had this one seen? Maybe in one of them, the scene he was painting made sense. Maybe she and Mizar were close, once; maybe the two of them would meet up with Alcor on the regular. But these people had different faces, different names in a different time. Maybe they shared the same souls, but they were fundamentally different people, and Alcor didn’t seem to realize that.

“Would you like that?” Alcor was directing that same nostalgic smile at her, now; Hadley could only imagine what face he was seeing in place of her own. Then he blinked, and seemed to come back to reality a little. “I mean, if you want to. I know you’re not really on the best terms right now, but you know, when you get to know her, she’s just amazing.”

Hadley stretched a smile. “Yeah, I’ll think about it.”

* * *

 

It wasn’t long until the fleet arrived; a tip on the whereabouts of a dangerous pirate wasn’t the sort to warrant a slow response, after all. Hadley heard pirates typing in the code, and knew exactly what it meant.

She turned to Alcor. “Well, this is it.”

                “Yes. See you when this is over” He smiled and waved. The fire faded until only his golden eyes could be seen in the darkness. Then he closed them, and she was alone.

It was nice while it lasted.

“Hey, you!” The same pirates stood in front of the door as it opened. “Looks like you’ve got an audience with the Captain. Captain Yake, that is.”

They laughed with each other like that was a great joke. Then they stepped forwards and grabbed her shoulders.

“Alright, you. Let’s go.”

Hadley squinted as she was brought into the bright corridor. They passed by a window, and she glanced out of it. Nothing but the blackness of space.

That was weird, weren’t they in a nebula? But then, then Hadley noticed the strange metallic shines she’d taken for stars, the sensors, and the guns, and _oh my god that was a Juggernaut_.

Painted black. Hadley tried to think of which Juggernaut was painted black; there was the Intrepid – that was the red one – and the Seeker was silver… it was escaping her.

They kept walking. Hadley kept thinking, all the way to the cockpit. The doors slid open, and she admitted defeat. If she was lucky, she’d look it up later.

“There you are!” Yake was in her face the moment they stepped into the room. Before Hadley could say anything the pirate slapped some handcuffs around her wrists. She pried Hadley’s jaw open and forced something – it felt like cloth – in her mouth, which was just a little too big to be comfortable. Then Yake drew her blaster and drove it into the centre of her back. “Corner of the room. Now! Right now!”

Hadley obeyed.

“Sit down! Eyes down! And don’t you dare move, space waste!” She kept her blaster handy as she paced back to the centre of the room. “Has to go perfectly, has to go perfectly… why haven’t they responded yet? What’s going on?”

“They’re just moving into range, Yake. It’s fine.”

“I’ll tell you when it’s fine! Now, everybody quiet!” She pointed her blaster back at Hadley. “Don’t move!”

Hadley hadn’t moved, but she could hardly point this out. So she sat, trying to ignore the growing ache in her jaw from the gag. The entire cockpit was silent but for the sound of Yake’s footsteps as she paced back and forth, back and forth.

Then: “The Juggernaut is hailing us, Yake.”

“Answer them, answer them!”

Another crewmember broke into a grin. “Aaand… there she goes. Mizar is on board.”

A cheering went up amongst the pirates. Yake scowled.

“Hey, shut up! Shut up! Do you morons want to get caught? No? Then stop being cheering like we’ve already won, for star’s sakes!” She rolled her eyes. “Put them on the screen.”

Hadley had been told not to move, but her eyes darted upwards as the image of a man appeared on screen. She actually recognized him: it was Vice Admiral Raz Azaranda of the UL Fleet. He sat dead centre, back straight, hands steepled in front of him. His eyes – both artificial replacements – stared down Yake, a faint but nevertheless disconcerting red glow emanating from his pupils.

“I wish to speak to Mizar.” He said, his voice low and threatening. Yake gulped.

“S-she’s not- ahem, she’s not here. She was killed in an explosion. I’m Captain now.”

“What is your name?”

“I’m Captain.”

There was an almost unperceivable twitch at the edge of Raz’s mouth. “Your name is Captain?”

“…Yes.” Yake shot a quick glare at her sniggering crew, and doubled down on the lie. “My name is Captain. I wish to negotiate the terms of surrender.”

“Alright, Captain Captain, we have prepared the terms of surrender and will now list them out to you.” He leaned forwards. “They are nonnegotiable. You must accept all of them, or your ship will be boarded by the Fleet of the United Life and you will be apprehended by any means necessary. Do you understand?”

“Yes. Yes, I understand.”

“I will list the terms now. First, you will immediately turn over any and all hostages held by your crew. You will submit to teleportation and allow your weapons to be confiscated by United Life soldiers. You will…”

He went on and on. Hadley was itching to do something, anything; where was Alcor? At any moment, Mizar could gain control of the teleporter and wreak havoc on the Juggernaut!

“…And you will allow your pirated vessel to be towed to the nearest United Life Shipyard for inspection and repair. Do you accept these terms?”

Yake, who had steadily paled throughout the entire exchange until she resembled a ghost, quickly jerked towards Hadley. “We have the hostage!” She picked her up by the shoulder. “See, not a hologram or anything!”

Raz’s expression didn’t change. “Do you accept these terms?”

It would have been interesting to see what Yake would say next, as she was clearly grasping at straws. But at that moment Hadley felt that _twist_ , and Yake’s too-tight grip, the gag in her mouth, the handcuffs around her wrists, they disappeared altogether. She wasn’t in the cockpit anymore; instead, she was in the vast room she recognized as a teleporter. She stood at the top of the stairs, looking down into the circular teleporter area.

Looking down at Mizar, who had removed a panel from its base, and was working away at the innards, whistling a little tune to herself. Hadley looked around, and she could see two bodies laying on the floor, blood puddled around them. Two pirates were looking at her from either side of the room, and she almost had a heart attack- before she realized that they didn’t seem to react in any way. They were unnaturally still, and she recalled Alcor’s words from the hold.

It seemed he really did take care of them, and now Hadley was alone with Mizar. Her heart thumped in her throat.

This was it. This was her moment.

Hadley glanced down at the nearest body, and grimly noticed the blaster lying a foot or so from their limp hand. Silently, so, so silently, she crept up to the body, bent down, and extracted it up from the floor.

She checked the power levels. It was still active. Good.

And so, without a word, Hadley rose, extended her arm, and aimed the blaster right at Mizar’s head as she blissfully whistled her tune.

And Hadley pulled the trigger.

It went off with a bang; she flinched at the sudden sound, and when the smoke cleared…

Mizar’s face. Staring at her, mouth agape. Shit, she missed! Hadley panicked and pulled the trigger again, again-

_Click. Click._

She stared at the barrel, and found the metal was completely twisted upwards. It was about as useful for shooting now as it was for a paperweight. The shot that should have hit… it was a black mark embedded in the ceiling.

No way she missed. It was Alcor, it had to be! Dammit, why would he interfere? Why now?

Her racing thoughts were interrupted by laughter. Hadley could only watch as Mizar pointed at the ceiling and then doubled over.

“Hahahaha! That’s… you tried-!” She started to laugh so hard she made no noise at all. “You… who taught you how to shoot? Couldn’t hit the broad side of a battleship! Oh, my stars! Ahahahaha!”

Hadley eyed the other blaster, at the far end of the room. No, that was too far. Way too far.

“Were you trying to fire a flare? I mean you just show up here, you just…” She blinked. “You just… show up here. But, how- oh, no.”

Hadley could see the cold sense of dread creep over Mizar’s face. She raced up the stairs to the nearest window, where she stood, watching for the longest time. Hadley couldn’t see what she saw – she blocked the view – but her fists clenched, and she drew her blaster.

“Well,” Mizar said, and there was anger, simmering there. “There goes my ship. You’re dead.” She turned, and her face was red as a tomato, and a little wet. “ _You’re dead_!”

A flash from her blaster- Hadley drew back, certain that this was the end, this was it, she was dead… but it never came. When she dared crack open her eyes, she saw Mizar staring up at the ceiling, and the mark where another shot had bored into it.

At first, Mizar seemed completely baffled; she looked from her broken blaster and up to the mark, then to the blaster again. Then, realization. Her shoulders heaved higher and higher, and she threw the blaster down on the ground, turning- not to Hadley.

She turned to the open air, and with a voice that cracked a little, said, “ _Dipper Pines_. Come out here, now.”

And Alcor materialized, his head hung low. “Hello again, Martha.”

“So it is you. It is you!” Mizar was shaking with rage. “And that’s not my name, by the way! You- I told you, I told you to _leave me alone_!”

Alcor said nothing. Hadley looked between the two of them, taking several steps back. Mizar didn’t appear to notice; it was as if she had disappeared the moment the demon appeared.

“How many times? How many times did you interfere? I want to know, _Dipper Pines_!”

The name hit Alcor like a great wave. He turned away, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from speaking. “Four times. I-I rescued Hadley from the escape pod, and I helped her to go to sleep, and I-“ He covered his mouth, but the words kept coming. “I stopped the waitress Wenjy from, from telling Hadley about t-the escape plan, and then I teleported her on board here and stopped the blasters. That’s all, I swear.”

“ _That’s all_?” Mizar screeched, and Hadley almost found herself joining in. The waitress was going to help her escape? She could have been gone by now!

Alcor refused to look them in the eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean- I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Oh, yes you did.” Mizar rounded on Hadley. “And you! You’ve been working with him!”

“He told me he could help me escape.”

“That’s-! An understandable reason that I can’t find an argument against so it’s just making me angrier!” She stabbed a finger at her. “What did he offer you? What did you offer her, _Dipper Pines_?”

“I told her that if she could convince you to give up piracy, I could rescue her. It’s not her fault. Blame me if you have to.”

“I’ll bloody well blame who I want! Because of both of you, conspiring against me, my whole crew, my whole ship, is dead! And soon, I’ll be dead, so thank you very much, both of you. You’ve done brilliantly. A round of applause for the both of you, because I don’t care anymore!”

Alcor started forwards. “Wait, you don’t have to die-“

“Stop right there, _Dipper Pines_.” Mizar started to smile, this unhinged teeth-showing mess of a smile. “What, you want to save me? Is that what this all is? Oh, I bet it eats you up inside that I’m not with you every moment of the day, going cultbashing and knitting sweaters and living the good old Mizar life until the day I die and get reincarnated into the next one. Yeah, no, I’d rather die than get ‘saved’ by you.” She turned to Hadley, and reached behind her. “I’d rather watch all your little plans fail, right in front of you. Because you’re not saving anybody today.”

Hadley almost tripped over herself as Mizar drew that twohanded blaster, the one that murdered Yurch. The remains of her blaster were still in her hand; she chucked it at Mizar. The pirate ducked effortlessly, and advanced.

“You hear that, Hadley?” Mizar pumped her blaster, and it hummed as a shot charged. “ _Dipper Pines_ isn’t going to save you this time. If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me!”

Hadley reached one of the doors and banged on it- it was password locked. She glanced back at Mizar, advancing on her leisurely whilst Alcor watched, panic and helplessness shining in his golden eyes.

She needed to think of something, anything, now. Her eyes fell on the fire axe resting on the wall. Yes! Perfect! Get it now, get it now…

“Oh, melee? If that’s what you want.” Mizar put back her blaster, and drew out a bloody bat, studded with nails. Her eyes shone like the sharp tips of metal poking out from the wood. “Wouldn’t be my first choice, I gotta admit. The blaster does it quicker.”

The axe sat unbalanced in Hadley’s arms; it felt all wrong, unnatural, but it’d have to do. She saw Mizar swing the bat up and over her shoulder, and she moved in.

She went for Mizar’s leg, and down the bat went, cracking against the pole of the axe and narrowly missing her fingers. Mizar darted in close and Hadley jumped back, feeling something weird on her side… it was wet. Blood. Blood!

Hadley glanced back up at Mizar, who winked as she brandished a stained knife. “What, you think I only had one weapon? What do you think this backpack is for, picnics?”

The red stain on her side spread, and Hadley took one hand off the axe to press it against the wound. The axe felt so heavy now; she backed up more, and tried to swing it over her shoulder like Mizar did. Maybe that would help.

She was getting close to a wall. Hadley tried to turn, but like lightning Mizar moved to cut her off. She swung the bat low and Hadley jumped back, stumbled, and fell with her back against the corner.

Now, Mizar loomed over her, the bat resting easy on her shoulder. There was a beeping sound from the nearby door, the sound of someone imputing a code, and she rolled her eyes.

“Welp, there’s the reinforcements. Looks like I’d better get this over with pretty quick, huh?”

She drew the twohanded blaster again, and Hadley’s breath stopped as she looked down that dark, cold barrel. Please, don’t let her die here. She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to die-

Mizar pulled the trigger, and all Hadley saw was a flash of light and then… nothing. Her hand, gripping the axe so tightly, went limp, and she slumped to the side. The blood from her stab wound flowed freely now. And Alcor cringed; he watched as her soul departed her destroyed body, and darted away into the Mindscape. Clearly, Henry wanted nothing to do with this great mess.

He watched as Mizar, Martha, stood there, the blaster still pointing downwards. He couldn’t see her face, but he watched just the tiniest bit of regret flitter across her aura. There was something there, like Martha almost considered Hadley… something like a friend. An ally. Just someone to talk to in this unfair, cruel world she felt she was up against that had done her so much harm, and she wanted, she needed to _give it back_ -

Maybe she would have stood there forever over Hadley’s body, but the door opened; upon hearing them slide open she pushed all thoughts aside and jumped into action. There were three. Before they were even through the door Martha squeezed the trigger and gunned down two. The third raised his blaster, but she hit him with the butt of hers, pushed him to the ground and shot him dead. The door system was hit in the skirmish, and it stuck open; she could hear the roaring sound of footsteps, coming for her.

Fear. Martha pushed it down as she recharged her blaster. She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to go out like this, all alone.

Alcor spoke up. “You know, you don’t even have to see me ever again. If I teleport you out of here-“

“No.” Martha’s voice was sharp. “No, I’ve lived too long, with you doing everything for me- I don’t want your help!”

She aimed and shot the other door system. It sparked and died, leaving the only other door stuck closed. Then she moved past Alcor and ducked under a panel, blaster aimed at the open entrance as the footsteps closed in.

“You know,” Martha said. “You told me all these stories about how great Mizars were, but no, no, my parents were bad. They shouldn’t have brought me up a pirate, that was wrong of them! But look at me now! I’m fighting to the death on a Juggernaut! That’s pretty great, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Are you gonna remember me? Are you gonna talk about me to all the other Mizars, or are you just gonna sweep me under the rug? I’m not good enough for you, am I?”

Alcor sighed. “I’m so sorry I made you feel that way, Martha. That was never my intention. It’s all my fault.”

“Sure is. You k-know-“ And her voice broke, her lips drew back, and she had to take a second to compose herself.

But she didn’t have a second. UL troops swarmed the door until their uniform blocked out the far wall; Martha rose and sprayed blaster fire into the crowd, but it wasn’t enough. Shots swarmed at her. One hit her shoulder, and with a cry she fell back under cover, breathing hard as she tried to recharge.

The soldiers advanced to flank her, and Martha heaved herself up again, fired at the troops. One fell, and one blaster shot landed right in her chest. She stumbled back, and another one sliced right through her heart. Martha kept backing up, kept backing up until she hit the wall, and then she crumpled down, down into a little ball, her hand still squeezing the trigger finger, aiming at nothing. Her eyes, looking at nothing, glassy and blank and slowly closing.

Alcor watched as her soul began to leave, though it fought and fought to stay as blasters kept burning through her body. Eventually, it was forced out, and Martha’s trigger finger relaxed. He watched as her soul flitted in the air a moment, lost, and then it, too, left.

Alcor watched as there was a call of, ‘Halt!” and the blaster fire died off. People approached her, slowly, carefully, as if they were worried what was left of the pirate would rise from the dead to bring them with her. One brave soul leaned down, placed two fingers on her neck, and waited. 

Then he spoke. “That’s confirmed. Mizar is down, I repeat, Mizar is down.”

And Alcor turned away.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The capital of the UL Homeworlds sat on a planet orbiting a A-type star, a huge blue ball of gas that orbited so far away it was almost impossible to see in the sky. This fact was not helped by the looming buildings that stretched all the way up to the atmosphere with the steady, computer-guided traffic of hover cars in between.

But down the usually busy Unity Corridor, traffic had been diverted. A great crowd gathered on either side, where they cheered on a military parade as soldiers marched all the way down to the capitol building. If any of them happened to look up, they would see a sliver of clear, uninterrupted yellow sky above them.

It was beautiful, Alcor thought. He could even see the little blue disk that was this planet’s star, like an inverted version of Earth. Times changed, but he would never stop being amazed at the beauty, the diversity, of different worlds. It was one of the few things he liked about immortality; the chance to experience things he never would have imagined experiencing, had he lived out his natural lifespan.

Someone shoved Alcor behind, bringing him out of his thoughts. He turned around, temper flaring, to see two young aliens darting through the crowd, their auras flaring with panic. Alcor quickly checked with his omniscience; their parents were going to find them in a minute, good. They were going to be fine, and _Hadley’s one was second from the right_ -

Nope, nope, not needed, thank you very much. Alcor shook his head clear, glanced up once more at the sky, and pushed forwards.

He was approaching the Capitol, where the buildings sheared away to create a great open clearing around the spire-like structure in the centre. It was packed full with people, but Alcor found his way around, and finally to the front, right up against the temporary fencing. He found himself looking right at seven coffins arranged in a line at the steps of the Capitol, each one draped in the flag of the United Life.

Alcor took a deep breath, released himself from the physical plane, and stepped through the fencing, walking with heavy steps towards the one second from the right.

He stopped at its base, and bowed his head. An eternity of his mistakes flashed before his eyes, stupid mistakes, selfish mistakes, and then… this one. What a monster he was.

“I’m sorry.” Alcor’s words came haltingly. “You didn’t deserve this. Any of this. I… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He would have said more, but what was there to say but sorry, sorry, over and over again? Alcor looked up, at the military parade and the great crowd and those children, laughing and hugging as they reunited with their parents...

He didn’t belong here. He hadn’t belonged amongst people for a long, long time.

Alcor stepped back, and let himself be carried far away, to a place he found himself visiting more and more often as the years went by. The ruins of Earth lay before him, ravaged by the heat of its expanding star until it resembled nothing more than a glowing ball of lava.

The intense heat didn’t bother him as he walked to the surface, settled down on this place that once was Gravity Falls, and now was a sea of lava indistinguishable from every other place on this dead planet.

Still, the memories remained. And memories were the only thing Alcor had left anymore. Time had taken so many things from him; the people he loved, the places he called home… his sanity. His integrity. The thought, once unsettling, now irresistibly appealing, that there might be an end to this neverending life of his. It was all gone, and he was alone.

Alone with his memories, forevermore.


End file.
